The Generation Killer

The Dying Squad #2

by Adam Simcox

The second thrilling instalment of Adam Simcox's 'wildly entertaining' (Adam Hamdy) THE DYING SQUAD series.

There's a new serial killer on the streets of Manchester - and only a dead cop can stop them.

Detective Joe Lazarus works for the Dying Squad, solving crimes the living police can't. When the Generation Killer starts wiping out Manchester's innocents, Joe and his new partner Bits have mere hours to catch the murderer. A young woman's life depends on it.

Joe's former partner Daisy-May has her own problems. Children are going missing in the afterlife, and she's the only one who seems to care. Her investigation uncovers a conspiracy so vast, it threatens both the living and the dead.

Her predecessor the Duchess can't help this time; she's tracked her treacherous sister, Hanna, to Tokyo, where she's been recruiting the dead. The Duchess must enlist the help of a local detective if she's to have any choice of stopping her.


Time is running out for the Dying Squad. And if they can't crack their cases, it's the living that will pay...

Genres: Fantasy

320 pages, Paperback

Published October 31, 2023

Reviews

[Brian Clegg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Urban fantasy, which brings fantasy elements into the everyday world, is far more interesting than the totally imaginary setting of a classic fantasy, because the clash between familiar life and weirdness provides brilliant opportunities to stretch the imagination. Of late, some of the best urban fantasies have incorporated a police procedural element - most notably the Rivers of London series. But Adam Simcox inverts the whole approach.

Standard urban fantasy/police procedural crossovers feature real world police coping with fantasy-driven problems. Simcox gives us a refreshing new approach in dead detectives who deal with crimes defeating the mundane police. This is linked into an afterlife that seems loosely based on the Catholic triad of hell, purgatory and heaven, with the main fantasy setting being the Pen, described as purgatory, but in reality distinctly hellish. It’s from here that dead cop Joe Lazarus sets out, making a dangerous transition to our world, which the dead refer to as 'the soil'.

Simcox gives us an impressively layered fantasy realm with its own mind-boggling problems (introduced in the first novel in the series, The Dying Squad). The Pen is run by a 16-year-old (dead) Warden Daisy-May, who struggles with keeping in control as she is new to the job, had little in the way of induction training and is dealing with a realm of rebellious souls and half-souled 'dispossessed'.

The fantasy location of the Pen is interesting (though a reader who hasn’t read the first book might find it hard to get their head around). But the book’s real strength is when crimes are investigated in the real world - this happens in two parallel storylines, with Joe Lazarus pursuing the Generation Killer of the title in a very dark and gloomy Manchester, while the Duchess (Daisy May’s predecessor as Warden) is trying to stop her sister from wreaking havoc in Tokyo. Each of these storylines is strong enough to support a book on their own, and whenever the action moves back to the afterlife, I was impatient to return to the soil.

Simcox has come up with such a rich piece of world building that it can sometimes be tricky to follow the logic - good fantasy (unlike magical realism) has to be internally consistent. It seemed a bit odd, for example, that people in the afterlife could be killed - did they end up in the afterafterlife? Was it turtles all the way down? But in the real world action parts, this feels less of an issue.

The Generation Killer is an original, gripping and gut-wrenching approach to the urban fantasy genre. It works on its own, but I’d recommend reading The Dying Squad first.

[Alex Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

2nd part of a trilogy and it’s every bit as good as the first.

Set in both the real world and the afterlife, it’s a supernatural thriller that you probably want to read the first book to fully appreciate the characters.

Dark , witty, macabre and just a great read from an inventive writer with an addictive story.

Loved it

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am loving this series. It's actually quite refreshing in amongst all of the crime books that I can move into a world that is about solving mysteries and is a crime series, of sorts, but with a very, very original twist. Because the Detectives and investigators in this particular mystery of not of this mortal plane. In fact, if certain people had their way, they wouldn't exist at all ...

It was great catching back up with Joe Lazarus and Daisy-Mae again. In The Generation Killer, Daisy-Mae has taken up her new role as The Warden of The Pen, a holding place for the dispossessed, the souls who were destined for neither Heaven or Hell. It's a very different kind of Pen to the one run by the Duchess, and not everyone likes the change. But that's only part of the problem facing our ghostly crew. Up soil side, the Duchess's younger sister, Hanna, is up to all kinds of mischief and Joe Lazarus and his new partner, Bits, are trying to find a missing young woman before she falls victim to a vicious murderer, known as the Generation Killer, who uses radiation to dispatch his victims. The irony of the situation is not lost - they very thing which is killing the living being the one thing that can give energy to and preserve the 'life' of the dead.

This is not your standard mystery, but a mystery it is. It has all the hallmarks of classic Detective fiction, at least in part, and air-breathing, pulse beating, flesh and blood or not, Joe and Bits have to approach the case in much the same way you would expect of any classic Detective duo. And if you think Joe has it any easier with his new partner than he did with Daisy-Mae, think again. I actually really liked Bits. Whilst he comes across as a bit of a gangster type to begin with, the more time I spent with him, the more I enjoyed his gruffness and cynicism, a natural counter to Joe's almost clinical approach, driven by his need for absolution. Read book one to find out more on that one. I really love Joe as a character too, flawed as he is, but the pairing is perfect, and the conflict between them adds such contrast and pace to the story. There is actually far more to Bits than meets the eye, his story surprisingly emotional, and it had me rooting for him even more.

Daisy-Mae has a real battle on her hands too, trying to investigate a series of mutilations of the dispossessed. It leads her into all kinds of trouble and to an internal battle she never knew she needed to wage. I like the way the author played with Daisy-Mae's character this time around. Her confidence and bravado take a bit of a dint, unsure as she is in her worth to carry the Warden title. There is no less tension and drama in her part of the story and what occurs in the outer reaches of her realm really does seem to be setting us up for something big in the next book. Now, depending on your viewing or reading habits, you may pick up on a pretty big hint quite quickly when one certain character is introduced, and whilst I don't do much Sci-Fi as a rule, I have been known to dabble in shows like Supernatural or Lucifer on occasion, so this part did make me smile.

The final battle is perhaps the most intriguing of all and I am curious to see how it all plays out eventually. The Duchess in pursuit of Hanna, one of the few people to escape from Purgatory or 'The Pit' as hell is more affectionately (?) known. Hanna leaves one hell of a trail of destruction for someone who most people can't see, and the clever way in which Adam Simcox has woven this story into the others is perfect. Seamless and clearly building to some kind of cataclysmic event. Of all of the characters in this particular section, Hatoyama was the real standout. Something about his character really clicked for me, and I liked the parry back and forth between him and Duchess as the case progressed. It's quite a startling set of circumstances, the potential for devastation very clear from the beginning, and those scenes really drive the pace and tension in the book to a whole new level.

The pacing throughout is actually very high, that sense of a ticking clock being felt in every scene. There is a literal countdown in Joe and Bits' cases, striving as they are to find their missing victim before the Generation Killer administers that fatal does of radiation. But there is also a feeling that everything is leading toward something really big, something that captured my imagination completely and almost compelled me to keep reading onwards. I cannot wait to tuck into The Ungrateful Dead now because, after that ending, I can only imagine what the author has cooked up for us next. Loving these books. Definitely recommended.

[Jamie Bowen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The After Life is facing many threats, one is a new serial killer, the Generation Killer, so Detective Joe Lazarus is put on the case from the Dying Squad. Meanwhile Joe’s former partner, Daisy-May, is adjusting to life as being in charge of the After Life and now needs to find out whose taken the children from the after life. Big threats, big dangers and time is running out.

Well as predicted this series is now really taking off, the action doesn’t stop from the first page and the stakes are high. The mythology of the After Life is continued to be developed and the ending promises more exciting adventures.

[Ed Crocker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Dying Squad, last year’s predecessor to the Generation Killer, was an odd beast, but in a really good way, like a tiger had mated with an eagle to produce a killer cat with wings. On the one hand we had a captivating, emotionally intense, twisty police procedural with a twist: the cops were dead and they were investigating their own murder. On the other hand, we had a surreal, Dali-esque vision of purgatory in which a seeming revolution was slowly occurring, full of apocalyptic brio and throwing-everything-at the wall-and-seeing-what-sticks verve (reader: it did stick). The brutal noir of the former contrasted weirdly with the surrealism of the latter, but it worked and left a brilliantly original piece of fiction in its wake.

With the Generation Killer, Adam Simcox’s boldly ambitious sequel, his Aliens to Alien if you like, the sharp contrast dual narrative approach has been abandoned in favour of a three-track story that ultimately connects together on a wildly grand scale, expanding the world he’s created and then some. In case anyone was in doubt whether he had a plan, this kicks said doubts off a mile-high skyscraper. The operatic scale of this book and the potpourri of plot, worldbuilding, characters, and crazy actions scenes tread that fine line between over-the-top and wickedly enjoyable, coming out firmly in favour of the latter.

In one plot thread, Daisy, supernatural cop protégé turned ruler of Purgatory, must investigate the newly built civilisation that followed her liberation of the “dispossessed” (those in Purgatory) and uncover a plot involving children being kidnapped. These scenes are wildly imaginative, and will remind fantasy readers in some ways of Terry Pratchett’s Ankh Morpork (a city on the verge of great change). In another thread, her former partner Joe Lazarus must investigate a serial killer, the eponymous Generation Killer, who is haunting the alleyways and byways of Manchester. In a third thread, psychotic former resident of Hell Hanna is now on Earth building an undead army, and her sister and previous ruler of Purgatory the Duchess must uncover and foil her plans. Behind all these threads, something big is brewing.

As that insufficient plot summary suggests, it’s a heady brew we have in this one. I’ve already mentioned Aliens so let’s throw in more suspect film analogies: this is Scream 2 to Scream 1 (i.e. a whole new set of rules) Godfather 2 to Godfather 1, Goldfinger to From Russia with Love… Basically it’s big and it’s messy and if you don’t keep up then you’ll fall behind. All the previous rules about the dead and the living so carefully introduced in the first one are blown apart here one by one; Simcox introduces new lore and new discoveries almost on a page-to-page basis. At times, it’s almost overwhelming, but it works (just) because the writing is so good and the story is …. I mean it’s ridiculously fun. It’s like a bond film at times; there’s a speedboat chase (but not as you know it), a samurai battle (but not as you know it), and a timely over-the-top rescue from a villain’s lair (but definitely not as you know it).

Amid all this grand worldbuilding and breathy action, Simcox doesn’t forget to slow down and take stock. The gut-wrenching emotion and pitch perfect poignancy that gave the first one such depth is on display here. There’s a scene between a character and his grandfather that will destroy – I mean really do a number on – anyone who misses their own grandfather, and the deaths when they come are handled in the same masterful way as the first. One of Simcox’s gifts is to keep everything grounded amidst the afterlife absurdity – his dialogue is the kind you’d expect on a kitchen sink British drama and it makes the characters real, so the emotional beats when they hit hit hard despite the bizarre settings they occur in. It’s a hard tone to pull off, but Simcox once again nails it.

It's funny, too. There’s a Pratchett level of humour in a purgatory courtroom scene which shows the problems of possessing anything in the afterlife. This is a funny book all the way through, and one full of gloriously surreal images: if the idea of the semi-amnesiac undead getting their groove on in an abandoned Manchester club is your thing, then boy is this the book for you. Speaking of Manchester, in this sequel Simcox proves himself a master of setting; absolutely nailing the poignant former heritage of this city; we’re taken on a tour of all its old proud haunts, now gone or transformed into glossy commercialism. As a native myself of this majestic city, this felt bang on.

The grimy haunts of old-school Manchester are contrasted in the Hanna plotline with the gleaming, technologically brazen skylines of Tokyo, and makes it as surreal as I imagine it is to visit; like God has accidentally dumped a future city in our timeline. In a book like this full of supernatural antics, a grounded setting is all the more important to keep the reader anchored; with these strange tours of two different cities, Simcox shows he gets this and then some.

Sometimes the jumping between plotlines did make me miss the more intense focus on one storyline – there’s nothing in here that quite replicates the intense, addictively unpredictable buddy cop relationship between Daisy and Joe of the first one, although Mancunian ex-junkie Bits is a decent partner replacement for Joe – but that aside, it is kind of stunning how Simcox has expanded his world so ambitiously without sacrificing all the things that made the first one great – tone, dialogue, emotion, twists, etc. It could have been a mess, but it’s grand opera coated in Manchester grime and British cop wit, and it’s unrelenting fun from start to finish with an emotional punch you won’t see coming. If this is what Simcox does with a sequel, I’m genuinely scared to see how he closes out a trilogy. Better than Alien 3, I’d wager.

[Peter Fleming · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not your average police procedural, is part gritty urban thriller and part sci-fi fantasy, there is an awful lot for the reader to digest.

It is the second book in a trilogy (between The Dying Squad and The Ungrateful Dead) and I would strongly recommend starting at the beginning to avoid confusion as the backstory, which is part explained, is complex.

The action, of which there is plenty, is vividly described, and set in on the ‘soil’ of the earth where we all live and the pen that is a spiritual dimension which is essentially purgatory. The pen is a clearing house for lost souls, those that don’t immediately go to the good place or the other one where none of us want to end up. Those souls that don’t make it off the soil have literally a hell on earth.

Our hero, the aptly named, Joe Lazarus was a bent cop on the soil, well he was more of a criminal than cop, running a county lines drugs operation. Now in the pen he has been recruited onto the Dying Squad, a small team who can return to the soil for short periods to help the living and sometimes those souls who are stranded. This is their way of finding redemption and a spot in the good place. Here he is sent back to the soil, with his new partner Bits, to track down a serial killer who is targeting the oldest and youngest members of families.

Daisy-May is the Warden of the pen, the queen of purgatory, and on the soil worked in Joe’s drugs operation when she died. She is now forever in her late teens and so is feisty, petulant and stroppy in equal measure. She has her work cut out because children are disappearing in the afterlife, but nobody seems to have noticed or care. Her investigation will take her to the outer reaches of her realm and discover a conspiracy that threatens the living and the dead.

Her predecessor as warden the Duchess (Rachel) is on the soil on the trail of her deranged sister Hanna. Hanna is in Tokyo creating murderous havoc, recruiting the dead with a insane plan (involving a damaged nuclear power station) to bring power to the dispossessed. All the Duchess has at her disposal is a washed-up Japanese detective who is slowly dying.

The plot is complex and is only partially resolved, leaving threads leading to book three which I’m sure you are going to want to read. The various settings are simply incredibly imagined, this could be the work of a disturbed genius or someone in need of sedation. I found myself at times thinking that makes no sense, you can do that, then reminding myself its fantasy and then thinking wow what a cool idea. There are a series of set-piece fights that capture the imagination, raise the heart rate and keep the action bowling along. There is violence, a little graphic at times and a little shocking at others, but it feels right for the context of a battle of good against evil (including Nazi experimentation).

The main characters hold the limelight but there are some great supporting characters too. None more so than Rachel’s other sister Mabel who is a madcap genius in the mould of Q from the Bond movies. She has brilliant gadgets and some killer lines.

The dialogue is simply brilliant, vibrant, full of energy and thoroughly modern. Expect great dollops of sarcasm, edginess, insults, childish bickering and killer come backs, even from the dead. Some of the put downs had me snorting with laughter. The colourful descriptions add great texture to the prose, who cannot appreciate an underground pit being described as Hell’s loft extension or the downs being a rabbit warren of filth, desperation and hopelessness.

Manchester figures largely too and Bit’s love hate relationship with his home city is certainly entertaining. He describes Salford as being ‘the Devil’s playground’ and ‘still being full of cunts’ and provides vivid memories of the famous ‘Lads Club’, not all of which are good.

The Generation Killer is a triumph of imagination over convention.

I would like to thank Net Galley, the publisher and author for access in exchange for a fair review.

[Kaushik Karforma · Rating 5 out of 5]

While the urban fantasy genre makes liberal use of Hell and Heaven, not many authors have made these places characters in their novels. The only three I can recall are Richard Kadrey and Craig Schaefer whose books have Hell as Mad Max-esque wastelands full of hellions and other assorted baddies.

And now I can add Adam Simcox to that list.

Except Simcox makes Limbo, not Hell, a character in his Dying Squad series. Yes, Limbo – the most boring place in Christian theology is transformed into the Pen (short of Penitentiary), a ‘prison island’ for souls not destined for the Pit and the Other Place (AKA Hell and Heaven respectively) in the Dying Squad series. The titular Squad is team of cops who investigate crimes in the mortal realm – or the Soil – that are somehow connected to the Pen.

And there are plenty of such crimes in this sophomore entry to the series. There’s a serial killer in Manchester who is killing the eldest and youngest of a family, a mortal woman who is smuggling children out of the Pen; and a psychotic ghost who’s up to no good very bad things in Tokyo. The ghosts following up on these are Joe Lazarus and partner Bits, Daisy-May, the Warden of the Pen, and the Duchess, Daisy-May’s predecessor. Behind the scenes, there’s a conspiracy brewing that connects these cases.
Simcox’s writing is fun and breezy. The POVs alternate between Joe, Daisy-May, and the Duchess. I preferred the Tokyo chapters because I am a sucker for Japanese-themed thrills, but the other two POVs are no slouch in the nail-biting tension department. Like their soil counterparts, our ghost protagonists unearth clues, talk to people, shake down contacts, and follow the trail to its logical conclusion. In that sense the book is very much a police procedural.

In terms of characterization, Simcox gives each character clearly identifiable goals and puts them through the paces as they try to achieve said goals. All the characters, including minor ones like a Tokyo cop and a boy dying of radiation-poisoning are portrayed sympathetically. The villains are given enough motivation for their dastardly deeds but are not made anti-heroes. They remain assholes till the end.

Where the book shines is world-building. I can’t describe the sheer joy I felt as Simcox lets out the many beguiling facets of this strange world he’s created slowly. Ghost death-matches. Supernatural entities guarding a Yakuza bank vault. A hospice for ghosts trapped in the mortal realm. Dangerous predators hunting in packs in a desert in the Pen. Each set-piece reveals more and more of this world. At the same time, Simcox is careful not to reveal too much – which made me say “Fuck!” out loud on more than one occasion.

The book is in the Empire Strikes Back mould. By the end our heroes are scattered, a terrible tragedy has taken place, and the conspiracy is coming into focus. Lots of pieces still need to be assembled to complete this puzzle. Lots of questions still remain, not the least of which is how does one get to make video calls from the mortal realm to the afterlife. Simcox assures me all will be revealed in the last entry of the trilogy, The Ungrateful Dead.

As I wait with bated breath for that one, all I can say about The Generation Killer is that five stars are inadequate for this gem of a novel. Please read this book, and the first entry in the series, The Dying Squad, if you’re looking for an unusual setting, likeable protagonists, dastardly antagonists, and excellent, superlative world-building.

[Nor Bert · Rating 5 out of 5]

The supernatural thriller "The Generation Killer" by Adam Simcox blends a serial killer investigation with urban fantasy, and it's the sequel to the much acclaimed novel "The Dying Squad". It continnues the adventures of former detective inspector Joe Lazarus, now dead.

His latest Dying Squad assignment brings Joe Lazarus to Manchester, where a psychopath kills each the oldest and the youngest member of families. He's accompanied by his new partner Bits, since his former partner, Daisy-May took over the Warden-of-the-Pen job from The Dutchess. She's preoccupied by her own problems, because children have gone missing in the afterlife, and she's desperately trying to solve the mystery. She seems to be the only one who's interested in this affair, but her investigation uncovers a conspiracy that threatens not only the afterlife but the soil, as the living world is called, as well. Her predecessor can’t support her. The Dutchess finally tracked down Hanna, her renagate sister to Tokyo, where she has put up an army of dead people. The Duchess must seek the help of a local detective in order to stop her. In the meantime, Joe and Bits only have hours to solve their case thereby saving the life of a young woman, who might be the next victim of the serial killer. So, time is running short for the Dying Squad.

Even though Adam Simcox novels stand in the tradition of Ben Aaronovitch's "Rivers of London" series, the Dying Squad gives a fresh new apporoach to the urban fantasy genre by incorporating the concept of hell, purgatory and heaven to the idea of crimes defeating the normal police, and a dead detective to handle the problem. In doing so, the author has come up with a complex but internally consistant piece of world building first introduced in his stunning debut.

Picking up the plot where "The Dying Squad" ended, Simcox manages again to tell a gripping, fast paced, creepy, easy to read story, which is full of action, plot twists as well as shocking discoveries. There are many new ideas and funny lines, and the actual detective work comes over as convincing. Like in the first part, Daisy-May is one of the highlight of the novel. Switching between his narative threads, Simcox has created a page turner. Each of the three major storylines could support a book of its own, and whenever the action returned to the afterlife, I could hardly wait for the story to revert to the soil. Manchester has never appeared so dark and gloomy before. The ending delivers a nice kick in the gut.

It's very helpful, but not obligatory to have read "The Dying Squad", but I strongly recommend it. Not only would you miss a great book, if you didn't, but it makes fully understanding "The Generation Killer" much easier, because the novel travels further and deeper into the world Simcox created. It's dark and funny at the same time, still fresh, inventive, and creepy. I will look out for the third installment.

Many thanks to Gollancz and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

[Lauren Rea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now a fully fledged member of The Dying Squad Joe has a new partner Bits, and a new case to solve. The Generation Killer is taking people in Manchester, and a young girl has disappeared. It’s up to Joe and Bits to find her and take down the Generation killer before it’s too late. Meanwhile Daisy-May is doing some investigating of her own, children from the pen are disappearing, and she wants to find out who’s responsible. Who is this lady who has been seen leading the children away? The Duchess is on the hunt for her sister Hanna, taking her to Tokyo where she turns to an old policeman friend for help finding her sister, as Hanna leaves disasters in her wake, can The Duchess stop her before it’s too late? How are these all connected? With a real threat to both the living and the dead, can Joe, Bits, Daisy-May and The Duchess solve the mystery and stop a major disaster destroying everything?

What a fantastic second book! I really enjoyed The Dying Squad, and I couldn’t wait to see what this next instalment would bring! It had me gripped from the first page, and there was no telling where the story would go next! Just brilliant writing, very original story and not just a run of the mill detective series! All the main characters are brilliant, as the story unfolds we learn more about them, especially Bits, it was nice to see another side to him surrounding his grandfather, very emotional! Absolutely love this series, I can’t wait for the next one!!

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meet the Dying Squad - a group of detectives solving mysteries that the living cannot. Detective Joe Lazarus is up against the clock investigating the disappearance of a missing young woman in Manchester. Joe's previous partner Daisy-May is trying to track down children that have gone missing in the afterlife. Meanwhile the Duchess is chasing her sister who is intent on causing even bigger problems.

This is a great story, I have never read anything like it. The mix of crime solving and the supernatural were an excellent combination.

As someone who hasn't read the first book in the series I didn't feel like I was out of the loop, Adam Simcox does a brilliant job at getting you up to speed on who's who.

It is a very fast paced book absolutely packed full of action. I really enjoyed getting to know all of the characters and how they dealt with the challenges they faced.

If you know the brilliant place that is Manchester you will love the references to different parts of the city, and if you don't you will certainly enjoy becoming familiar with it!

I'd recommend this book for a brilliantly written original read.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really hope this series has a long life because it is so refreshing to find an Urban fantasy break the fourth wall. The Generation Killer is the second in the Dying Squad series. The series follows Joe Lazarus who is a spirit trapped in Purgatory or the Pen in this book. The purpose of the Dying Squad is to solve murders, mysteries, cases, that are not easily solved by living means. It is a great concept and Adam Simcox does a wonderful job with the whole world building aspect. On top of Lazarus, we also follow Daisy-May and the Duchess who all sort of work for the Dying Squad, but I don't want to go into to much detail as this is the second book. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this sequel. The story was very well paced out, with a few bumps along the way, but nothing too major. If anyone out there is looking for an Urban Fantasy series that is not like the rest, then look no further. The Dying Squad is as fresh as it comes.

[Ainsley Massey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a interesting story and a great, unique world to be involved in. I missed seeing Daisy and Joe together, but their two storylines were so interesting I didn’t really mind. The third story with the Duchess and Hatoyama was also really compelling. I love stories that have several different strands that seem unrelated, but interweave throughout.

I think if I had to choose Joe and Bits’ story was my favourite. It was certainly the most moving and definitely the most twisty-turny.

I really wish I hadn’t waited so long to read the sequel as I loved it! I’ve already bought the third one and I’ll go straight to it.

[Annarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Dying Squad was one of the most original book i read last year: an intriguing story, fascinating world building, great characters.
This is the excellent follow up and the mix of urban fantasy and thriller works well making it a gripping and highly entertaining book.
Adam Simcox is a talented storyteller and I like his storytelling.
There's questions left unanswered and I think and hope a next book will be out.
This one is highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[Alex Margolies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book.

Building on the set-ups from the first book, the author really ran with it
The characters were developed further, and their relationships became fuller. New characters were strong additions.

Manchester was particularly well described and its feel was there.

Felt there was quite a lot of Phillip Pullman's influence in this book too, which is never a bad thing...

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark and inventive.
Unique and engaging.

As I jumped into book 2 first I had a bit of catching up to do.
Loved the pace and the unique characters both dead and alive.
Good and bad in each realm and both fighting for power.

Gotta say I do like Mable, she is a hoot.
Will be reading book 1 and book 3!

[Aria Harlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book, it was well written with a compelling and engaging plot and well developed characters. It was fast paced and full of tension that created suspense, twists and unpredictability that kept me guessing. I really enjoyed it.

[Lewis Cain · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this book was just something else, potentially my book of the year so far. I enjoyed the first (The Dying Squad) but this really builds upon that and has opened up a whole world and really created something special. The imagination to create this is simply brilliant and I was absorbed into this from the very beginning. Yes it’s slightly strange, yes it’s slightly dark but oh boy is it good!