Deadworld by J.N. Duncan
Urban Fantasy
April 5, 2011
Paperback
Kensington

Reviewed by Tori

Favorite Quote: "She could not decide if she was terrified or just wanted to strip him down to the gun belt and play ‘ride’ em cowboy’."

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 on the edge of panic mean that she and her psychic partner, Laurel, are going to need more than just backup . . .

So Jackie is fine with any help rugged P.I. Nick Anderson can give, even if that includes the impish ghost and sexy vampire who make up his team. But Nick is hiding secrets of his own. And Jackie’s investigation has plunged them both into a vengeful game reaching back centuries–and up against a malevolent force hungry for more than just victory. . .

Agent Jackie Rutledge and her partner Agent Laurie Carpenter are baffled by a young homicide victim who is found drained of all their blood. Their only clue is a penny dating back to the 1800’s. When Laurie begins to get premonitions of the dead and evil concerning this case, Jackie turns her focus on Nick Anderson.

Nick Anderson, a private investigator, is up to his neck in this case but Jackie soon realizes he is not the killer. Further investigation into Nick’s past shows his family’s connection to similar homicides and his uncanny resemblance to his past relatives. When Jackie and Laurie attempt to question Nick and his office staff, they are stone walled. Jackie knows Nick and his staff know more then what they are telling her, but no threats or corrosion will give her the information she seeks. As the victims begin to pile up and Jackie experiences a devastating loss, Nick finally breaks down and tells Jackie exactly what is happening. Now it is up to Jackie and Nick, with some extra help, to stop a deadly killer who won’t stop until he or they are dead.

Deadworld is a debut urban fantasy that is steeped in police procedural. J.N. Duncan takes the supernatural and mundane and twists them together to give us a unique prospective on vampires, ghosts, and the mortals who exist with them. Smoothly written with some wonderfully action packed scenes and nicely developed characters. Engaging dialogue though a bit wordy and redundant at times.

I found our protagonists, Jackie Rutledge and Nick Anderson, to be very interesting characters. Flawed and annoying at times, their emotional make ups are realistic in correspondence to the events of their past. I do feel that perhaps they didn’t evolve as quickly as they should of. They tended to get mired down by their personal angst and it slowed the story down. We are given a great deal of information into Jackie’s history, which explains a lot about her personality but I felt had no bearing on the storyline. Yet, we aren’t given the same courtesy with Nick and I found that odd since Nick’s past is a direct correlation to the events happening in the present.

The secondary cast fleshes out much better then our protagonists. They provide a much needed buffer against our main characters heavy emotional angst.

There is some chemistry and potential romances between a few characters but being this is urban fantasy, it’s buried deep beneath the main premise. I did enjoy the little hints and flirting that happens through out but I appreciated that it’s not consummated in the story. The characters aren’t ready and it would have seemed forced had Duncan gone that route.

Our villain is appropriately nasty and evil yet with a biting sense of humor that made me smirk when I really shouldn’t have. Again, we aren’t given really anymore information about him then we were Nick so we are left twisting a little in the wind wondering why he is doing this. What exactly started this chain of events? Why Nick? We aren’t really told anything beyond the bare bones and that was disappointing. It further weakened the the plot and I found myself confused and put out at the end.

All in all a nice noir fantasy debut series that shows promise.

Rating: C-

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All Things Urban Fantasy – 2/5
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