Having read some of Mike Carey’s writing in trade paperbacks I was interested but reserving judgment; the Lucifer series never grabbed me all that much. The devil you know however, did grab me very effectively. The main character, Felix Castor shares more than a few personality traits with John Constantine in the Hellblazer series (that is, the trade paperback series not the travesty that hollywood produced of it).

It is an enjoyable book. The dark and gritty London, enriched with the magical or supernatural, will be familiar to Hellblazer readers. The main character seems to be a bow to the genera of the hardnosed, poor, gritty but honest detective. Carey manages this with tongue in cheek and minus the rampant sexism of the 70-80 . There is a nice world builder in ‘the dead are coming back’ theme, which is less reminiscent of Ghostbusters than it sounds.

Recommended for anyone who liked Hellblazer, or likes non-chick flick supernatural thriller.