Writer: Mike Carey
Publisher: Orbit
Although the first novel in Mike Carey’s Felix Castor series has just come out in the US, in the UK we are lucky enough to get to book 3 in the series. Fractal covered book 1 way back in April 2006.
Felix Castor is an exorcist, battling against restless spirits and demons with just a tin whistle and attitude. Having started with a ghost story for the first book Carey has skilfully expanded this world of Castor’s – a world where people accept that the dead are still around. This new book starts with the funeral of an associate and then the wife asks for his help in getting rid of the angry ghost. At the same time a murder has taken place with similarities to the MO of a long dead American serial killer. That’s along with all the hassle Castor’s getting over his demon possessed friend. All in all he’s pretty busy.
With a story taking in London and the US Mike Carey continues to expand his world, setting up more ominous future events, but also continuing to explore the supporting cast, which ranges from a zombie information broker to a succubus trying to live amongst humans. Ghosts and the dead are at the centre of the stories so, even with the other supernatural elements looking in; it remains something where a freelance exorcist can play a major part. Castor as a character has grown in experience and he is most definitely not a Constantine clone. Well maybe with the getting in trouble due to his friends. Castor is far less of a user than Constantine and here his conscience puts him in the firing line as much as anything.
It’s very difficult to talk about the plot of the book without giving any spoilers away. This is a very layered story with twists and turns and unsurprisingly some connections between the disparate plots. As this series has continued Carey has become more and more adept at expanding the scope of his stories. Dead Men’s Boots moves along at such a pace, but you never feel lost or confused. For new readers the basics of the series and the setup are laid out, but done in such a way that older readers won’t feel they should just skip past those bits. The only issue I have with the book is a blatant reference to one of Mike Carey’s friends which sticks out and threw me out of the book a little. This was a little too blatant against the carefully set up ambience in the story.
The first two Castor books were fun, but I could not wait to get back to reading this. The mysteries were fun and involving, the characters interesting – what more could you ask for? Roll on another Felix Castor book.
Mark Peyton – has a MA in History and Research from the University of Hull specialising in the Hundred Years War. In a complete departure from that he now runs communications and membership for a UK based Trade Union as well as being a part time writer/journalist.
He is a founding member of Millarworld acting as a moderator and as an editor for Fractal Matter.