Deadworld (Jackie Rutledge #1)

Apr 23, 2011 Tammy ~NovelOpinion rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: uf, 1st-in-series

I just have to give this 4 stars!
J.N. Duncan is a new writer of Dark Urban Fantasy. This is his debut novel and series. I LOVED IT. I gave it 4 stars based on originality, true grit and believable characters.

Synopsis:
She's as tough as anything haunting Chicago's streets. But to deal with an inhuman power that won't stay buried, this FBI agent needs help that comes at an immortal price. . .

Jackie Rutledge has seen her share of supernatural killers. But her latest murder case is what recurring ni...more

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Mar 20, 2012 Gemma rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, urban-fantasy, 5-star-reads, bcc-reviewed

Full Review on bookchickcity.com

Thoughts

"Deadworld" is a rollercoaster of an urban fantasy book with characters that have so many issues, even Freud would have been lost in helping them. It's one of those books that you realise you have been reading for nearly two hours, without any breaks and you're still dying to find out more!

Before starting "Deadworld", I was expecting the usual run of the mill paranormal romance, where the big brooding alpha male would end up saving and falling for the tou...more

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Aug 03, 2012 Pam rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, paranormal, urban-fantasy, series, police-fbi

I'd give it a 4.5 and trust me, I don't give out 4.5 or 5 often. I'm too darn picky
It's a good beginning to a new urban fantasy series. Yes the main female FBI agent is often abrasive and hard-edged but as the story progresses we learn what in her own background...her own fears made her that way. While some might find her attitudes and actions problematic, I found her realistic, and hoped to see her change over the course or the book and come out a little different at the end. A better woman for...more

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Mar 21, 2013 Kathy Davie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: paranormal, romance

The first in the paranormal-romance series, Jackie Rutledge, set in modern-day Chicago.

The Story
An old vampire has been playing games with Nick Anderson for well over 100 years now. Taunting him with his inability to save his loved ones and now he's back, back with a nasty twist. It seems that Drake has picked up some new abilities and Nick is desperate to find and stop him while keeping the FBI agents safe.

Well, you know how that's going to go over with FBI agents of any sex. There is no way Ja...more

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Dec 24, 2012 Book Chick City rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: urban-fantasy

Reviewed by Gemma for www.BookChickCity.com - 9/10 on the blog.

"Deadworld" is a rollercoaster of an urban fantasy book with characters that have so many issues, even Freud would have been lost in helping them. It's one of those books that you realise you have been reading for nearly two hours, without any breaks and you're still dying to find out more!

Before starting "Deadworld", I was expecting the usual run of the mill paranormal romance, where the big brooding alpha male would end up saving a...more

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Jun 27, 2012 Jim rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: paranormal-urban

It was kind of a neat idea in a lot of ways, but it kept shooting itself in the foot. The world is ours in every respect except in a few details. The first is that Laurel, one of the two FBI agents is a psychic. That's OK. Her partner knows & respects her power, which is also OK, but no one else seems to know she's one. At least the sheriff in the beginning doesn't & no one else ever says she is. Kind of a big deal is made out of it. BUT then they find out some weird stuff about some peo...more It was kind of a neat idea in a lot of ways, but it kept shooting itself in the foot. The world is ours in every respect except in a few details. The first is that Laurel, one of the two FBI agents is a psychic. That's OK. Her partner knows & respects her power, which is also OK, but no one else seems to know she's one. At least the sheriff in the beginning doesn't & no one else ever says she is. Kind of a big deal is made out of it. BUT then they find out some weird stuff about some people & all the agents, including the hard, tough boss FBI guy all seem to accept it without a problem. I'm not talking minor weird stuff, either. Major, I-don't-believe-in-this-crap, sort of stuff is accepted off stage, seemingly without a problem.

Details here, but it is a (view spoiler)

All through the book there were a lot of revelations that I thought were cheap shots like a mysterious character who is about to tell his story & then we switch to another view point. When we pick him back up, he's finished with the story & we're slowly getting it as the book progresses. That didn't work for me at all. Worse, (view spoiler) And worse, they didn't even hold together logically.

Fantasy writers can & should stretch my imagination, but please have the courtesy to have a logic that works within the framework of the book. I kept stumbling over problems from the very beginning & tried to push through them. I made it to about page 250 of 440 & just couldn't take it any more. (less)

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Dec 22, 2011 Tracey rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-paranormal, fiction-dark-fantasy, fiction-urban-fantasy, fiction-thriller-suspense, xx-2011-reads, xx-newly-published-in-2011, fiction-romance

J.N. Duncan is a new author for me to read and the first book in the Jackie Rutledge series was okay but not perfect. I would describe this more of a paranormal dark fantasy/suspense as the scenes with Drake and his victims were described in disturbing detail.

FBI Agent, Jackie, can only be described as an emotionally scarred hard drinking introverted woman and she is not perfect in any shape or form. Then we have PI Nick Anderson the vampire ex cowboy sheriff who has been hanging in the past 140...more J.N. Duncan is a new author for me to read and the first book in the Jackie Rutledge series was okay but not perfect. I would describe this more of a paranormal dark fantasy/suspense as the scenes with Drake and his victims were described in disturbing detail.

FBI Agent, Jackie, can only be described as an emotionally scarred hard drinking introverted woman and she is not perfect in any shape or form. Then we have PI Nick Anderson the vampire ex cowboy sheriff who has been hanging in the past 140 years to get justice for his family.

My main problem with rating this book is it had potential to be a great story but it just did not get there for me. I struggled with the Jackie's character considerably as she was basically a mess dealing with so many internal issues and yet I did not feel much sympathy for her. She was also had a partner, Laurel, that come out of the closet a few chapters into the book and they had been working together for five years and she was unaware of the fact. Seriously I even wondered why the author brought it so strongly into the storyline as it did not seem to be heading anywhere apart from highlighting how much Jackie focused on herself and almost felt like filler pages. The other thing that caused me a few issues was Jackie just picking men up at the bar and taking them home for drunk sex. The last time she does this just felt so wrong on all levels, especially if there was supposed to be a budding relationship with Nick in the wings.

Nick was also a bit of a washout character wise as he did not have much backbone or able to make a decision. Surprisingly it was the women around him most times that made his decision for him. I was expecting there to be some progressive build up or strengthening of his personality to deal with Drake (bad guy). I would say that Nick was more the main character over Jackie at times as he was dealing with the action and Jackie was on the sidelines watching.

If the story had focused on Shelby as the main character I would possibly have enjoyed it more! Or if there had been hints of 'hope' that promised survival against the mad guy. Instead the 'mystery/suspense' aspect fell short at the end as the answers were dropped conveniently into the final battle scene between Nick and Drake. And basically it was Shelby, Gwen and Laurel who worked together to save the day.

Shelby and Laurel were the strength that pushed the story forward and at times it felt like I understood Nick better then I did Jackie. Just by the writing style I had an inkling that it was written by a male author as it was similar to another book I read a few months ago with the hints of lesbianism, male dominating women and with the romance written in such an understated way that it wasn't really there and with little description of 'feelings' unless it was part of an angry argument. Jackie just come across to me as more male in her way of thinking.

I will rate this 2.5 stars as it had its good moments but the bad parts just made reading drag.

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Oct 31, 2011 Brooke Johnson rated it 4 of 5 stars

When I sat down to read Deadworld, I truthfully didn’t expect to like it. Urban Fantasy is not my usual reading genre. I hate cop stories, vampires, graphic sex, etc. etc. etc. In all honesty, there was really no reason for me to buy this book, but since I had connected with the author through Twitter, I wanted to support him.

A lot of different readers have had varied opinions on Deadworld, ranging from hating it to loving it and everything in between, all for various and conflicting reasons. So...more When I sat down to read Deadworld, I truthfully didn’t expect to like it. Urban Fantasy is not my usual reading genre. I hate cop stories, vampires, graphic sex, etc. etc. etc. In all honesty, there was really no reason for me to buy this book, but since I had connected with the author through Twitter, I wanted to support him.

A lot of different readers have had varied opinions on Deadworld, ranging from hating it to loving it and everything in between, all for various and conflicting reasons. Some say the plot was gripping, while the characters were lackluster. Some say the writing is monotonous and disagreeable. Others say the exact opposite.

Jackie is hard to like at the beginning of the story. She’s tough, vindictive, impatient, and excessively angry at pretty much everything. Laurel, her psychic partner, is Jackie’s squishy counterpart, sweet, controlled, and kind. They apply the bad cop, good cop roles in the story. I loved Laurel from the very beginning. My inability to connect with Jackie because of her personality was rectified with Laurel. The hero, Nick, suspect in Jackie’s case, is a calm, collected vampire—one that I like. The author did a good job taking the usual vampire stereotypes and turning them on their head without losing the essence of vampirism. While some readers claim the characters lack depth, I came to love the main characters, even Jackie. The author’s characterization was phenomenal. I haven’t been that emotionally invested in a group of book characters in a really long time. I felt their pain, happiness, and anger right along with them. I actually cried at one point. The characters are what made the story for me.

As I said in the first bit, there’s a lot of graphic romance or mentions of it. One particular scene was painful to read, not because it was badly written, but just because of all the emotional baggage that went into it. I just felt bad for Jackie. That said, a decent romance blooms between Jackie and Nick, one where she’s sober and not reliving her abusive past, so that was nice.

As far as the plot goes, it was so-so. The pacing was great for me, possibly slow for others, and the author put cliffhangers in the proper spots (I kept telling myself “one more chapter” for about thirty chapters while reading one night). I didn’t find myself really caring about the plot itself. I was more involved with the characters. The bodies are piling up and both Nick and Jackie want to stop the killer. Nick’s personally involved, and it’s Jackie’s job to catch the villain. I didn’t find the villain particularly threatening, but he is deplorable.

The supernatural aspect isn't overwhelming as it is in most paranormal or urban fantasy stories. Even with vampires, ghosts, psychics, and the world of the dead, it felt like the world we live in, with just a little bit extra. The supernatural was a backdrop for the story rather than the story focusing on the supernatural bits. I liked that.

All in all, I really enjoyed Deadworld, more so than I expected to. It was a complete story for me with no real questions hanging over my head. I don’t know if I’ll read the sequel The Vengeful Dead when it comes out in October. The cover does look fantastic though.(less)

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Apr 29, 2011 Lauren rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-blog

FBI agent Jackie Rutledge is at least as tough as any of the supernatural killers she’s faced before, but when bodies start showing up exsanguinated and totally clean of evidence she finds herself faced with needing help beyond the FBI’s resources. For this case she and her partner Laurel are going to have to rely on the Bruce Wane-esque P.I. Nick Anderson and his team of odd ball supernaturals. Can they trust him though? Nick’s keeping secrets that stretch back over a century that may drag Jack...more FBI agent Jackie Rutledge is at least as tough as any of the supernatural killers she’s faced before, but when bodies start showing up exsanguinated and totally clean of evidence she finds herself faced with needing help beyond the FBI’s resources. For this case she and her partner Laurel are going to have to rely on the Bruce Wane-esque P.I. Nick Anderson and his team of odd ball supernaturals. Can they trust him though? Nick’s keeping secrets that stretch back over a century that may drag Jackie and Laurel far further into a twisted game of vengeance than they ever should have gone.

My impressions of J. N. Duncan’s Deadworld are colored by his use of a few tropes that tend to really annoy me as well as an immediate degree of respect for his writing for using them in a way that takes them from annoying to genuine feeling plot twists and bits of character development. Jackie is six kinds of emotionally messed up and hard to like because of it, but then character development happens. She’s still messed up, but it’s an understandable level of messed up that she doesn’t just magically get over all of the sudden. Laurel’s most blatant characterization for a big chunk of the book seems based on her sexuality, but she’s not written as just a bundle of stereotypes and gets nearly as much development as the main characters. Nick gets slightly less active development, the guy’s a pile of secrets and guilt from cover to cover, but he gets a back story that shows why he has that guilt and a personality that almost gives reason to the secrets. That said, the villain is never given any reason for his actions aside from doing it for the sheer evil of it and to mess with Nick for no adequately explained reason. I will complain that there were some moments of dialogue that seemed completely out of character and threw me for a bit of a loop, especially towards the end. It’s also a nitpicky little thing, it may be the stilettos or the leather pants, but I can’t see Jackie as the cover model. It’s also worth mentioning that Duncan didn’t immediately shoe horn Jackie and Nick into a relationship, a definite plus in my book as they’re both too damaged for something that fast to work out, but seems to be easing them towards something.

For the little things and the fact that I have problems with the lack of villainous reasoning, I give it a four out of five and wait impatiently for the October release of book two The Vengeful Dead.
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Oct 12, 2011 Pam rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy

This was a gritty and sometimes difficult read,but well worth the emotional investment. The characters in this book are interesting, flawed - certainly not warm and cuddly, but they settle into your bones and MATTER in a way that keeps you reading.

Thanks to J.N. Duncan for making the harder choices when it comes to the fate of his characters, I am so tired of there being no consequences to life...and death. Laurel and Jackie's relationship could have gone many different things, but I felt Duncan...more

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May 26, 2011 Pam rated it 5 of 5 stars

Great Book!!

I love finding "new to me" authors. J.N. Duncan has a great debut book with Deadworld. He is added to my list of authors I will always buy books from.

Deadworld was just sitting on a store shelf when I walked by several times, but something about the "blurb" on the back had me picking it up and buying it. And I am so glad I did.

Deadworld is about an FBI agent (Jackie) who is trying to solve a murder with several "otherworldly" aspects about it. She is not above believing in strange th...more

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Mar 24, 2011 All Things Urban Fantasy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed-by-abigail

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy

Jackie Rutledge made a bad first impression on me which didn’t improve over time. Chapter one opens with Jackie arriving on a murder scene where a little boy has been discarded like trash in a park and her response is all about her hangover: “She absently rubbed at her throbbing temple. There should be laws against committing crimes on Mondays...’Why can't killers keep better hours?’” I don’t care how tough and jaded she is after years with the FBI, tha...more Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy

Jackie Rutledge made a bad first impression on me which didn’t improve over time. Chapter one opens with Jackie arriving on a murder scene where a little boy has been discarded like trash in a park and her response is all about her hangover: “She absently rubbed at her throbbing temple. There should be laws against committing crimes on Mondays...’Why can't killers keep better hours?’” I don’t care how tough and jaded she is after years with the FBI, that’s never the kind of response someone should have at seeing a dead kid. And sadly, Jackie was just the first in a string of uninteresting, unsympathetic characters.

Jackie and her partner Laurel wanted to come across as the next Rizzoli and Isles. Jackie as the tough cop and Laurel as the softer influence in her life. Not so much. Laurel barely registers and Jackie was obnoxiously hard-nosed. Predictably, she had an abusive childhood that turned her into a promiscuous man-hater. She gets drunk and goes home with strangers most nights. One night in specific triggers a flashback while in the middle of rough sex. The situation was seedy to begin with as she’s begging some guy to hurt her, but then she reverts back to a horrific episode from her childhood and it got ugly enough that I almost stopped reading. I kept going only so I could write this review.

That scene and character aside, the writing was equally lackluster. Redundant and overly tedious are the words that come to mind. This book should have been half this length. At 400+ pages, it came across as bloated with a sluggish pace that did nothing for its rather flimsy plot.

Overall, I really wanted to like this book. The description sounded like it might be the next great police procedural urban fantasy with a dash of romance, but DEADWORLD failed on just about every level for me. Unlikeable characters, weak yet overly eager writing, poor pacing, and a plot that wasn’t nearly strong enough to support a book of this size. Not even the ghosts and vampires could redeem this one for me. I reserve my one bat rating for books that I find offensively bad. Since DEADWORLD only qualifies as not good, it scrapes out a 2 bat rating. Barely. The next Deadworld book, THE VENGEFUL DEAD, will be published in October 2011

Sexual Content:
References to homosexuality, rape. An BDSM sex scene that triggers and abusive flashback that might be considered rape.(less)

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Aug 19, 2012 Malinda rated it 3 of 5 stars

Deadworld by J.N. Duncan
My review:
The story opens with a twelve year-old boy named Archie Lane running away from home to escape his parents fighting again. He is picked up in an alley by one Cornelius Drake, and, after basically hypnotizing the boy, they disappear into the night.
The first chapter introduces us to one of the main characters in the book, FBI Agent Jackie Rutledge. (Semi spoiler alert: Agent Rutledge is one of those characters that you hate to love and sympathize with). An alcoholi...more Deadworld by J.N. Duncan
My review:
The story opens with a twelve year-old boy named Archie Lane running away from home to escape his parents fighting again. He is picked up in an alley by one Cornelius Drake, and, after basically hypnotizing the boy, they disappear into the night.
The first chapter introduces us to one of the main characters in the book, FBI Agent Jackie Rutledge. (Semi spoiler alert: Agent Rutledge is one of those characters that you hate to love and sympathize with). An alcoholic with a horrible past, she becomes an overly promiscuous man-hater, never bringing a man home unless she is too drunk to remember anything the next day.
Agent Rutledge and her partner Agent Laurel Carpenter, who happens to be a psychic, are called in to the scene of the body of a 12-year-old boy who was drained of all his blood and then dumped in a park. The body had been identified as one Archibold Lane (remember the beginning of the book?). Laurel decides to take a “look” around and determine if there is anything supernatural that she can find that might tie to the case, while Jackie looks over the body. She encounters Nick Anderson, 180-year-old vampire who was once a Sheriff and is now a P.I. and CEO of a major corporation.
What we don’t know, and won’t know until further on in the story, is that Archie Lane’s murder is only the first of 5, in the fifth cycle of vicious murders taking place every 36 years since Nick became a vampire. What we do know is that, eventually Jackie and Laurel are going to have to meet Mr. Anderson, and all hell will break loose, right?
Now that we have the basis for the opening, here are the facts I decided to pull from the story instead of doing a typical book review (just because I can).
One of the main focus points of this story are these murders, 5 in total, happening every 36 years, and this is the 5th and final set put in play by one Cornelius Drake, a vampire who can apparently do more than the average vampire can. From what the book tells us, Drake killed Nick Anderson’s family somewhere around or over 180 years before the story starts, and then starts playing this “game” with him, telling him he is going to kill 5, 5 times, every 36 years to make him suffer. I am assuming, since I don’t remember the book going into detail about, that Nick was 36 at the time of his family’s murders and that is the significance of that number. The 5 murders are representative of the 5 family members killed by Drake, and I am assuming the same goes for the 5 times he does this (but of that I am not entirely sure).
About the murders: Nick’s five family members that were murdered were as follows: his 12 and 15 year old sons, his wife, his mother, and his 8 year old daughter. In that same order, every 36 years, Drake murders 5 people who bear some resemblance to Nick’s family.
When Jackie and Laurel discover that 36 years prior to the case they are investigating, Nick’s “father” (who happens to look just like him) was acquitted for the murder for 5 people, and his “grandfather” was a person of interest 72 years before that, things start to get strange, and Laurel correctly deduces that Nick Anderson is, in fact, a vampire. And with that, they mark him as not only a person of interest in their case, but also as a suspect to begin with (wouldn’t you?). It takes a few days for Nick or his vampire former fiancé – turned – business partner Shelby Fontaine to give in and confirm the agents’ suspicions. After victim 2 turns up in a bank, is when they finally start to come clean, and shortly after that Laurel is kidnapped by Drake as the representative Gwendolyn (Nick’s wife), and killed in the same manner as all the preceding victims: strapped to a table, zip-tied hands and feed, and drained of all blood.
After Jackie realizes she failed to save her partner and best friend, she goes on a drinking binge, which leads to a late-night BDSM scene gone horribly wrong and leaves her partially reliving a scene from her childhood, only in the place of her mother with her stepfather beating her. During this mental breakdown that she has, Laurel tries contacting her from the other side and sends her over the edge. Thank the author for thinking to bring in Nick and Shelby to save the night and Jackie’s fleeting sanity.
With Nick and Shelby’s help, Jackie is soon on the mend, victim 4, an elderly woman, is found dead in a nursing home, and victim 5 is kidnapped. During a high-speed chase to attempt to save the 5th victim, an 8 year old girl, Shelby, Drake, and the little girl vanish into thin air. Shelby is MIA for most of the remainder of the story, but Drake resurfaces with the little girl in a funeral home. Nick and Jackie track him there, only to find out it’s a trap and they are unable to save the little girl, and almost die themselves. With the help of Laurel (now a ghost, remember), Nick manages to get himself and Jackie into Deadworld (or the other side as we like to call it). After a somewhat bland and very short reunion with his wife, Nick discovers the way to finally kill Drake, and get Jackie back to the safety of the living world right when she herself is about to die.
Now that I’ve told you about the book itself, here is my opinion of it. For a supernatural thriller/detective story, it rates about a B-. There are some grammatical errors here and there, there are some twists, a bit of drama, the BDSM scene that could also be considered by some to be an attempted rape of some sort (with who being the rapist debatable at this point), a lot of the characters are subpar, and the whole thing tends to speed up then slow down and then speed back up again. The ending itself was kind of anticlimactic in my opinion as well. BUT if you are looking for a good read that you will be likely to pick back up again at some point in the future just because you want something to dull your mind to the real world, then Deadworld is the book for you.
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Sep 18, 2012 Clay Rylee rated it 3 of 5 stars

I wanted to really enjoy "Deadworld" I really did but there were several decisions by the author that I feel kept me from fully enjoying this book. First, every character in the book is reffered to by a shorted version of thier name, for example... Jackie = Jack, Nicholas = Nick, Reggie = Reg, I don't know about you but I find this very distracting. Second, Jackie, the main character, has sooooo much baggage it is ridiculous that she is able to function on a high enough level to hold her job wit...more

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Jul 18, 2011 Jess rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, urban-fantasy

First I have to start off by saying that I probably wouldn't have read this book if not for my book club picking it as a group read, just because I had never heard of it. That's one of the things I love about reading with other people, it helps expand my selections.

So anyway, on to the actual book. I wasn't sure what I was going to think about it, the beginning dragged a little but I think that was just to get the book set up. It had an interesting mix of a police drama and an urban fantasy book...more

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Jun 07, 2011 S.J.B. Gilmour rated it 3 of 5 stars

I first noticed Deadworld when I read a less-than-cheerful review of it. Being the contrary bugger I am, I logged on to Amazon and downloaded it. (At that time, it was free.) Funny how that works, isn't it?

The Plot
This is a pretty good take on the buddy cop/paranormal investigator thing. All the elements are there: violence, sex, creepy bad guys and good guys haunted by secrets/terrible pasts. It's entertaining, though a little predictable towards the end. Still, knowing what was coming didn't s...more I first noticed Deadworld when I read a less-than-cheerful review of it. Being the contrary bugger I am, I logged on to Amazon and downloaded it. (At that time, it was free.) Funny how that works, isn't it?

The Plot
This is a pretty good take on the buddy cop/paranormal investigator thing. All the elements are there: violence, sex, creepy bad guys and good guys haunted by secrets/terrible pasts. It's entertaining, though a little predictable towards the end. Still, knowing what was coming didn't stop me reading on till the end and I've added Duncan's follow-up Vengeful Dead to my 'to read' pile.

The Characters
This is where Duncan lost a point in my review scale. Our heroine, FBI agent Jackie Rutledge and her sidekick agent Laurel Carpenter are a Chicago version of Mulder and Scully from the X-Files, only they're both believers and they're both female and only one of them is gay.

Jackie's the one with the haunted past, the booze problem, the big temper and the big gun. Laurel's the one who can see ghosts and other supernatural characters. They're the good guys. The problem is, Jackie's just a little too messed up - too jaded and thus cliched to be really enjoyable. And Laurel... Okay, she's a medium and supposed to be sensitive and all that, but she's also an FBI agent. She just comes across as a bit too wet to be credible.

Then there's Nick, a vampire also with a haunted past, his female sidekick Shelby, and another vampire called Cornelius Drake. Look at the character names here - you don't have to be a super genius to figure out which one's the real bad guy.

The Style
Duncan throws you into the deep end with little to no background story. I felt as if I was reading the third or fourth in a series instead of the first. It's really cool to read a book that's not weighed down with its own back-story, but Duncan overdid the restraint a tad. The suspense and action are fairly well-paced and Duncan unveils the history of his characters and (thus the reason behind all the dirty deeds done by the bad guy) quite well.

Deadworld could have done with a few more red-herrings though. Suspense needs a bit of that to balance it out, so where Deadworld could have been a real page-turner with the reader not knowing what will happen next, it wound up being a cut-and-dried race against time with the reader being able to guess what happens in the end. Still, it's an easy read that doesn't insult your intelligence. Nice.

The Setting
I don't know Chicago. I've been there once and all I can remember about it is there being a lake, a tall building and one night I went to restaurant and ate ribs then went to a blues bar. The references to street names and locations may have been necessary to the action, but only just. What really annoyed me were the frequent mentions of a coffee & donut place - so frequent that I wondered if Duncan got some product placement funding. Not necessary at all.

Conclusion
Deadworld didn't blow me away, but it certainly was written well enough to keep me reading. I'm looking forward to reading more by J N Duncan. 6/10.(less)

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Oct 17, 2011 Van rated it 2 of 5 stars

Not what I expected. The book started out with FBI agent Jackie and her partner Laurel being called to the scene of a dead boy. The boy was drained of blood, and as the story progress more victims turn up dead with the same MO. Jackie’s character is suppose to be this hard-though, kick-butt chick but she came off as an awful and unlikeable character. As for Laurel she is the opposite of Jackie, she’s suppose to be the softer-wise one. Laurel is really one of those forgettable characters you eith...more

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Apr 23, 2011 Nikki Barrett rated it 4 of 5 stars

Welcome to Chicago. But be aware, this isn't the modern day Chicago you may know. Have you known Chicago to be tormented by supernatural beings? Is it an every day thing when vampires, psychics and more are part of the FBI, police, and more? In J. N. Duncan's Deadworld, yes, that is the norm.

The newest case for agent Jackie Rutlidge and partner Laurel is not the every day norm, either. The killings are coming from an evil, angry ghost. And to help them out is Nick Anderson.

Deadworld is a gre...more

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Apr 28, 2011 Chelsea [Vampire Book Club] rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: uf-pnr, vampires

This review was originally posted at Vampire Book Club.

J.N. Duncan brings two people who have sincerely given up on real happiness together in his debut Deadworld. Both FBI agent Jackie and paranormal investigator Nick believe they are past redemption. They don’t deserve love or happiness or even a glorious ending.

Nick has just plain given up. He’s spent decades being tormented by another vampire who makes him relive the murders of his family members. And he’s never been able to catch this guy....more This review was originally posted at Vampire Book Club.

J.N. Duncan brings two people who have sincerely given up on real happiness together in his debut Deadworld. Both FBI agent Jackie and paranormal investigator Nick believe they are past redemption. They don’t deserve love or happiness or even a glorious ending.

Nick has just plain given up. He’s spent decades being tormented by another vampire who makes him relive the murders of his family members. And he’s never been able to catch this guy. This time, though, is the final go-round, and his nemesis will surely kill him when it’s over. He’s resigned to that death. Unfortunately, the FBI is now involved and their interference will only lead to more dead bodies.

Jackie and her partner and BFF Laurel are doing their best to stop one heartbreaking murder after another. Laurel is a medium and can tell their is something otherworldly at play. Quickly it’s clear they’ll need to team up with Nick to help stop the big bad. In the meantime, Laurel has to deal with Jackie’s drinking and bar fights. She helps her out and gets her home time and again. Finally putting her foot down and telling her she needs to let other people in.

Both our hero and heroine in Deadworld have deep issues, each with a friend nearby keeping them from going too far over the line. And that may be what makes it harder to welcome these two — mostly Jackie. Those characters with big flaws challenge readers. You know I adored Chess Putnam in Stacia Kane’s Downside series. And it worked there because Chess was never hurting anyone but herself with drug use. When it starts to affect others, she has to think about things a bit more. With Deadworld, we come in seeing Jackie’s best friend agonize over her friend’s drinking, promiscuity and fighting. It takes more work to care about Jackie for this reason. You’ll get there, but it takes time to get inside Jackie’s mind enough to like her.

Jackie is a fighter. Outside she’s a very strong woman and quite the instigator. And that’s hard not to appreciate. What’s especially nice is the way her and Nick’s insecurities play off one another to help them grow. Will they suddenly be “fixed” by the end of the novel? No, but when they are together they both are stronger and you can’t help but back them.

The plot is dark and bloody. You’ll be surprised by some of the twists in Deadworld, though some of the action moves slower in terms of prose than I’d like, the end result is a good storyline.

I want to give Deadworld a higher rating, because I love what Duncan is trying to do. He doesn’t quite get there in Deadworld, but it’s a first novel in a series, and my gut says he may get there in the sequel The Vengeful Dead. Plus, the thought he puts into character development shows and I love that.

Sexual content: Sex scene that turns sour (expect traumatic flashback), references to rape(less)

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Jan 31, 2012 Jenni Ebba rated it 4 of 5 stars

Dark. Deep. Danger. Those are the three words that flowed through my mind while I read Deadworld . The novel was a refreshingly different look at vampires and the world of spirits. I was hesitant when I first started to read the book because I made the mistake of looking at other people's reviews first. It seemed not many people were happy with Jackie's jaded view of the world. I didn't care for it at first, but then I began to understand that she had a f***ed up beginning in her life. Her past...more

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Jan 26, 2012 SANDRA rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who has a liking to vampires

I would have given it 5 stars if it had not confused me. I never learned why he was chasing Drake in the first. Maybe it was just simple vengeance?? Maybe I skipped a very important part while half asleep and trying to read this book, but still haven't figured why exactly Drake went after Nick's family in the first place. I may have to re-read it.. :D. I wouldn't mind it.

It was a well written book. Drew me in right away, with an honest screwed up agent (Jackie Rutledge) and her psychic partner...more

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Oct 15, 2011 Wendy Peoples Moore rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book does have potential - if, and that's a big if, the story line is fleshed out.

I was disappointed in how sketchy the Drake vs. Nicolas history was presented. If it were the intent of the author to save something for the next book, more still should have been disclosed in order to give a 'clencher' to the reader.

The concept of vampires having the ability to visit the 'Deadworld' was a new (to me) concept in Urban Fantasy and I'll admit, was the reason I continued to read this book. Unfor...more

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Sep 08, 2012 Sandra rated it 2 of 5 stars

The story itself had potential but i didn't like the two main protagansts. I don't mind a character with some flaws and baggage but Jackie is so completely messed up she is not even functional and in real life would not be able to function as an FBI agent. This also makes her hard to relate to. Also she is selfish, self centred and unlikeable. I just plain didn't care what happened to her or whether she survived or not. And Nick came across as kind of pathetic, weak and wishy washy. He has this...more

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Apr 21, 2011 Dark Faerie Tales rated it 1 of 5 stars

Quick & Dirty: Deadworld misses the mark with an unlikable heroine and a forgettable supporting cast. As far as urban fantasy novels go, this one isn't a great success.

Opening Sentence: A misty rain swirled down into the darkness between the two brick buildings.

The Review:

FBI agent Jackie Rutledge and her psychic partner, Laurel, have been assigned to a new murder investigation. There is nothing normal about the crime scene or the way in which the victim was killed. As luck would have it, Ni...more

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Apr 23, 2012 Mary rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: vampire, mystery-detective

Kindle; read for free. It had flashes of good writing, but the story characters didn't hang together so well, nor did the plot. The conflict between the heroic sheriff/ vampire and the evil vampire with extra powers was never completely explained. So, with a sketchy backstory, we never really understand how Nick became a vampire, just why: to fight the bad guy, who hates him a whole bunch. Jackie, the main character, is a drunk, which her supervisor tolerates as if it is a minor personality quir...more

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Aug 19, 2011 Michelle rated it 2 of 5 stars

Deadworld is the first book in the Deadworld series by J.N. Duncan and an Urban Fantasy from Kensington.

Book Blurb:

She’s as tough as anything haunting Chicago’s streets. But to deal with an inhuman power that won’t stay buried, this FBI agent needs help that comes at an immortal price...

Jackie Rutledge has seen her share of supernatural killers. But her latest murder case is what recurring nightmares are made of. Brutally exsanguinated human victims, vanishing into the ether evidence, and a city...more

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Jan 26, 2012 Darlene rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Yvensong, S. Michele, Tom, Ralph, Cheryl in CC NV, Chris

Recommended to Darlene by: It was a first-reads offer I couldn't wait to win.

Shelves: ghosts, vampires, kindle, favs

Wow! This was quite the adventure! No, to those of you surprised to see ME reading this, it isn't what I would normally pick up to read. But the front cover with a gorgeous, tough girl and seeming planets on the cover--yep, the cover, drew me in. I was thinking, finally a strong woman, science fiction, yay!

So curiosity drew me in. But it wasn't a let down. I liked the main characters right away. No, I wasn't happy when it seemed I was reading a weird CSI, but the characters and story had capture...more

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Jun 29, 2011 Jessica rated it 2 of 5 stars

J.N. Duncan's Deadworld was an okay sort of read. I've had it on my TBR pile for awhile now and managed to get to it recenty. Although unfortunately I wasn't very impressed. It just wasn't the book for me.

The pacing was a little too slow for me at times. It centered around the need to find the bad guy who was killing people, which was fine. You never knew who he was going after next. Jackie was determined to find him and ends up accepting outside help from Nick Anderson who had started out as a...more

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Sep 08, 2011 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jackie Rutledge is an FBI agent that specializes in the supernatural. Her partner, Laurel, is a psychic that can sense ghosts, among other things. They get on the case of a boy that has been completely drained of blood. Their only suspect is Nick Anderson, who knows more than he lets on. As the case goes on, things take a turn for the more personal side when the killer takes out Laurel.

I loved how Jackie's character is so gritty. She is a bit of an alcohol, but loyal to a fault. She had a deep...more

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Apr 22, 2011 Stacy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Reviewed By http://urbanfantasyinvestigations.blo...

Jackie is an extremely angry and jaded person. She had an abusive childhood and now has intimacy and alcohol issues. Nick was ok for a male love interest. He hides a lot and is a bit frustrating to read about but he wasn't boring. The other characters were not anything special. Most were hard to get to like. There was a bit of action. I found the writing to be a bit over worded and the pace was slower then I would have liked it to be. Honestly...more

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Deadworld (Jackie Rutledge #1)

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