Unholy Ghosts (Downside Ghosts #1)

“How’re those big sideburns working for you, Terrible? You managed to find yourself a steady ladyfriend yet?”

“Thought you was good with the spook stuff,” he said. “You look like some dead.”

“And you look like Elvis vomited you up,” she managed. “So?”

Hinges creaked in her ears again as he laughed. “So we both looking bad, guesses. But I do always, and you do never. You right now?”

It was strange to see him without a shirt on, though. Chess tended to think of his bowling shirts as armor, and stripped of them he…well, he still looked like a tank.
A surprisingly attractive tank. Tattoos and scars decorated his bare skin and a patch of thick dark hair spread over his chest and dipped down in a thin line to his waist, but underneath them was solid, sculpted muscle, exquisitely delineated, obviously created from real work and not trips to a gym.
He glanced at her, then looked again with an eyebrow cocked, and she realized she was frankly staring. Heat rushed to her face as her fingernails suddenly became fascinating to her. It wasn’t until she heard him saying goodbye that she looked up again.

“Terrible,” she managed. “You know how to use this thing?”

"The Debunker protects, first and foremost. He or she protects the Church from fraud and falsehood, yes; but above all the Debunker protects humanity. From spirits, from their own natures, and from others who seek to do them harm."
-Careers in the Church: A Guide for Teens, by Praxis Turpin

"It's tempting to view faking a haunting as an easy way to earn money. After all, the Church has promised to protect us, and to make amends when it fails. But be warned! You will be caught. Debunkers are among the most highly trained, intelligent, and skilled employees in the Church, and they are not easily fooled."
-Families and Truth, a Church pamphlet by Elder Barrett

...Chessie is (in my mind) a luscious tattooed Churc

...Chessie is (in my mind) a luscious tattooed Churchwitch who is trying to skate through life. I don't think she wants to be noticed. She just wants to blend in and smooth over the edges of her pain with her next fix. I would have posted a bitchin' image of her here somewhere, but lo and behold, if you do google searches of "cute brunette with tattoos" you are in man's land and it's quite pornographic.

The world of Unholy Ghosts is post apocalyptic and dystopian. Normally this would make me pass on reading a book but even though it's ultra dark and gray I found it worth it and it wasn't mind numbingly dreary. Ghosts with very real power have risen in the world and the churches of old have been abandoned for the Church of Truth. Magic is the only thing that can counter the ghost menace.

I've heard grumbles and rumors of people disliking that Chess takes drugs and perhaps that the ramifications of her drug usage aren't realistic enough given the work she has to pursue, but I disagree completely. I feel Kane gives a satisfying personal history for Chess and her drugs. Does anyone really need a reason to do drugs? Hell, the world she lives in is reason enough. I'd like to point out though that the book indicates (and I wish I had highlighted some quotes but I forgot to) that Chess grew up being beaten, molested and raped in her mother's household. Given this kind of childhood Chess's decisions and behavior toward her relationships is very realistic and consistent. The main tension regarding her drug usage is that she is in a position of some authority being a Churchwitch Debunker and as such has protocol to follow. Failing to adhere to the parameters of her position within the Church of Truth has dire if not deadly consequences.

Chess embarks on a quest because her friendly neighborhood drug provider, Bump, wants to use her services to banish ghosts at a property that will boost his business. So in comes, Terrible, [Thank you Jan for inspiring my choice of imagery for Terrible, this image is a drawing of Marv from Sin City, and other than hairstyle is how I imagine Terrible] the henchman Bump assigns to liaise with Chess during this extra curricular and highly illegal project. Problems arise, naturally, as Chess tries to balance her duties and the illicit project. I'm not going to detail all of the plot but lets just say she has plenty to keep her occupied.

Chess also has to contend with Slobag, another drug dealer and in particular his minion, **Lex: . This book isn't a romance, I would classify it as more of a UF, but there are moments and relationships that will probably be more thoroughly explored in the next books of the series. Most of us that read the UF/PNR genres are jaded about love triangles but I say read this. If you want pure romance don't read this. But I believe her reaction toward Lex is so nicely realistic and her reaction to any possibility of true intimacy is very telling and for me, a fantastic experience in this book. I too am sick of seeing false obstacles that prevent heroines from getting their man when a decent conversation could fix the issue, but here we have a case where it makes complete sense how she interacts with men.

You will find a relatively interesting mystery and investigation, Chess torn between loyalties and her drug habit, mistakes of a very human nature, a spattering of interesting characters (I for one enjoyed Tyson quite a bit and hope to see more this kind of thing in the successive books), some good decently creepy/scary events, and some beautiful moments to be shared with Chess. I am going to read every book of the series, I'm invested and I'm a fan of Kane now!

** The beautiful man in that photograph is Daniel Henney, he is half Korean, not Chinese which Lex is supposed to be I think.

"Readers have the right to say whatever the fuck they want about a book. Period. They have that right. If they hate the book because the MC says the word “delicious” and the reader believes it’s the Devil’s word and only evil people use it, they can shout from the rooftops “This book is shit and don’t read it” if they want. If they want to write a review entirely about how much they hate the cover, they can if they want. If they want to make their review all about how their dog Foot Foot especially loved to pee on that particular book, they can.
Why?
Because, and I’ve said this before, reviews are for readers. Because they purchased the book (or it was sent to them specifically hoping they would express an opinion) and so can say whatever they want about it. If you buy a shirt that falls apart in the wash, do you keep your mouth shut about it because you don’t want to hurt the manufacturer’s feelings?“ Authors, reviews are not for you. They are not for you.
Den Rest vom Post gibt es auf dem Blog: http://www.staciakane.net/2012/01/09/...