A fantastic new series. Gritty, fun, dark. Excellent prose, well-paced, and gloriously dark (but also, a novel that doesn't take itself *too* seriously.)
A must for fans of Kadrey's Sandman Slim, Gaiman's Neverwhere and Sandman, and Mike Carey's Felix Castor series.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Hitman Don Drake owes a gambling debt to a demon. Forced to carry out one more assassination to clear his debt, Don unwittingly kills an innocent child and brings the Furies of Greek myth down upon himself.
Rescued by an almost-fallen angel called Trixie, Don and his magical accomplice The Burned Man, an imprisoned archdemon, are forced to deal with Lucifer himself whilst battling a powerful evil magician.
Now Don must foil Lucifer’s plan to complete Trixie’s fall and save her soul whilst preventing the Burned Man from breaking free from captivity and wreaking havoc on the entire world.

I am conflicted about my review for this book. On one hand, I really like The Dresden Files and, in particular, Harry Dresden - so I really did take to this genre of novels. All the boxes that you would tick for a great urban fantasy novel were there - gritty, under-the-sidewalk demons; magic; humour; and the titular hero who you could just hug if they existed in real life...

And that's kinda where my problem with this book comes from - it is a bit too much like a Harry Dresden novel. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...not sure if that imitation is deliberate or unintentional, but I do get the sense that Don is basically a British-based Dresden-character with a drinking and gambling problem.

So I am giving this three stars based on those conflicts. All the expected positives are here, but it does come with some issues for me.


Paul
ARH