capellan's review
5.0
NB: free ARC received in exchange for an honest review.
Keith Murphy is still on the Gold Coast, reluctantly doing the bidding of the literal demon-king of the local criminal underworld. These are things you do when you want to prevent Ragnarok. Though signs are starting to suggest that the apocalypse might be more "delayed" than "stopped".
I liked but was not wowed by the original release of this novella. This revised 2020 edition considerably tightens and tautens the narrative and rockets along with grungy enthusiasm through its ever escalating stakes. Keith Murphy is a fun POV character and there's a solid supporting cast here, both human and otherwise.
If you're in the mood for some gritty urban fantasy, check it out.
Keith Murphy is still on the Gold Coast, reluctantly doing the bidding of the literal demon-king of the local criminal underworld. These are things you do when you want to prevent Ragnarok. Though signs are starting to suggest that the apocalypse might be more "delayed" than "stopped".
I liked but was not wowed by the original release of this novella. This revised 2020 edition considerably tightens and tautens the narrative and rockets along with grungy enthusiasm through its ever escalating stakes. Keith Murphy is a fun POV character and there's a solid supporting cast here, both human and otherwise.
If you're in the mood for some gritty urban fantasy, check it out.
daveversace's review
4.0
This action-packed supernatural thriller improves on the previous volume in Peter M. Ball's Flotsam series. Continuing its deep dive into the hard-boiled supernatural underbelly of Queensland's Gold Coast, the action this time centers on grimy, compromised monster hunter Keith Murphy's bargain with a demonic crime boss and a brewing gang war with a a bikie gang.
The action sequences are suitably brutal and inventive, and the tense working relationship between Murphy and the various demon-possessed criminals he is nominally allied with lends real bite to the stakes. It's very much a vicious, backstabbing workplace drama turned up to eleven by the presence of demons, firearms, murderous ghosts and literal stabbings in the back.
I'm looking forward to the next (final?) chapter of the series, in which I presume the much-anticipated Ragnarok on the Gold Coast will arrive at last.
The action sequences are suitably brutal and inventive, and the tense working relationship between Murphy and the various demon-possessed criminals he is nominally allied with lends real bite to the stakes. It's very much a vicious, backstabbing workplace drama turned up to eleven by the presence of demons, firearms, murderous ghosts and literal stabbings in the back.
I'm looking forward to the next (final?) chapter of the series, in which I presume the much-anticipated Ragnarok on the Gold Coast will arrive at last.
More...