Dead Men's Boots

by Mike Carey

Book Overview

Author of The Girl With All the Gifts Mike Carey presents the third book in his hip supernatural thriller series featuring freelance exorcist Felix Castor. You might think that helping a friend's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446580325
• ISBN13: 9780446580328
• Release Date: July 2009
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Length: 420 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

One of the Best Urban Fantasy Series Going

Dead Men's Books is the 3rd novel in the Felix Castor novel, which raises the bar on this already thrilling series. The story opens shortly after the events of Vicious Circle, but with a decidedly more somber tone than previous volumes as Castor is attending the funeral of a fellow exorcist. It's a glamorous life he is leading isn't it? Castor is asked to look into the death of his exorcist friend, Gittings by his wife, Carla as she doesn't believe he committed suicide. As usual Castor is also brought into another case, which somehow involves the infamous Myriam Kale, who was a mob hit woman from decades earlier in Chicago long dead. But just what the hell is a ghost doing in Chicago and how could a ghost have killed a man? Castor is a bastard that can't admit to himself that what he does isn't for purely selfish reason. It is like he wants people to think badly of him so that they won't involve him in their lives. It seems that if he admits he cares about people his world will come crashing down. This is most evident with his dealings with Carla and Pen as he is willing to answer their calls for helps, but keeps them at arms length whenever possible. Castor is still dealing with the backlash of the Rafi and Pen story line from Vicious Circle, but the stakes are raised as Castor's nemesis of sorts, Professor Mulbridge is to her old tricks trying to pull a snatch and grab with Rafi from his imprisonment. Carey is clearly building to something big with Mulbridge and Rafi that I hope culminates in the next volume. Carey's use of spirits is again impeccably done. In Castor's world all the supernatural elements are spirits of some kind whether they be normal ghosts/poltergeists or werewolves which are spirits inhabiting and modifying animal bodies. The sumptuous layers of intertwined cases, which has become a Carey staple never gets old. Juliet the succubus turned private investigator grows a lot and you get to see what a struggle the succubus goes through trying to "act" human. We're also introduced to a great new mysterious associate who as always is out for themselves, which also adds a bit of tension to Juliet's backstory. Visceral, action-packed, and wholly engrossing, Dead Men's Boots is easily the best book in the series so far. I give Dead Men's Boots 9 out 10 Hats. Carey has made a life long fan out of me and I'll be checking out the other volumes in the series as he is building to something truly Epic. I heartily recommend starting with The Devil You Know to start with the series. Carey's habit of holding out is the one thing that could be the downfall of the series if the carrot keeps getting dangled further and further away. Readers will want to see more payoff in the next volume.

A Feast of the Supernatural

Dead Men's Boots by Mike Carey An exorcist seeks to find out why a peer committed suicide. In a world where possession, demons, werewolves and exorcists are common, death has a new meaning. I liked Felix Castro. He is a character you can identify with as far as his guilt of past actions and his desire to right wrongs he may have perpetrated. Fix is an exorcist with a highly developed conscience. He exercises his exorcist talents by sending ghosts beyond. His talents are strong but limited. I liked that he wasn't just a two dimensional comic book character. I don't read a great deal of the supernatural fiction so some of the terms and characters could have been better defined for the novice reader. There was plenty of action and the story certainly held my interest. There were subplots within the main plot and Carey did an excellent job wrapping up all of the loose ends and creating a seamless story. I recommend the book.

super urban fantasy thriller

London exorcist Felix "Fix" Castor attends the funeral of his possessed friend John Gittings when a fancy dressed lawyer Maynard Todd arrives with a court order authorizing cremation; the widow Carla asks Fix to prevent the disinterring of her spouse's body. The spirit remains in his body's home. Fix is at the Magistrate Court supporting the contention of Pam "Pen" Bruckner that she has power of attorney for possessed Rafael Ditko. However, Professor Jenna-Jane Mulbridge has a counter claim insisting Rafi is unsafe to free from her asylum where she researches the paranormal. Judge Runcie realizes there are two issues with his legal focus on a review panel, angering Pam and satisfying Jenna-Jane for now. Janie Hunter wants to hire Fix to prove her husband Doug did not commit the rape and murder that he has been accused of and arrested for. She insists that American serial killer Myriam Seaforth Kale performed the deeds although she has been dead for four decades. Fix knows the MO in the brutal King's Cross rape-murder is exactly that described of Kale. So he assumes somehow the odious evil came back, but how and where she is stymies the exorcist because he fears a repeat that he wants to prevent. However, Fix's inquiry assisted by Juliet the succubus and Nicky the paranoid zombie leads him to something even darker crossing over. This London based urban fantasy thriller contains three prime subplots that grip the reader from the moment the body of Gittings is interred and never slows down as every move the exorcist makes seems increasingly dangerous. The story line is fast-paced as Fix works his inquiries. Sub-genre fans will enjoy his escapdes and seek his previous two caseloads (see Vicious Circle and THE DEVIL YOU KNOW). Harriet Klausner

Carey keeps up the great work

Dead Men's Boots is the third book in the Felix Castor series, written by famed comic book writer Mike Carey. Best known for his work on Lucifer and Hellblazer, Carey's series poaches creative elements from both those titles. Felix Castor is a London exorcist. For no clearly defined reason, the dead have started to rise again - in a wide variety of terrifying forms (ghosts, zombies, werethings, etc). Worse yet, demons and devils are real - summoned by suicidal warlocks to stalk the streets. Although Carey hints towards a broad, apocalyptic metaplot, the series is skillfully composed of individual mysteries, each featuring the restless dead. In Dead Men's Boots, Castor is hired by a unhappy wife to get prove her husband's innocence (apparently he beat a rent boy to death with a hammer). Simultaneously, Castor is unhappily bequeathed some esoteric notebooks from a fellow exorcist. The two mysteries swiftly become connected, and Castor begins to unravel a disturbing conspiracy. Fans of Felix's friends and allies won't be disappointed. The ambitious cop Coldwood, the paranoid zombie Nicky and the alluring-but-scary demon Juliet are all involved - Juliet taking her most significant role so far. Carey also introduces a few new characters, including a horde of undead gangsters and a slightly different demon, the enigmatic Moloch. Carey does strong work building out Juliet. Introduced as a bit character in the first book, the former succubus now has a life of her own. The author does a good job fleshing her out as an interesting, evolving character. She finds the world totally alien, but is having a good time exploring it - even as human beings (and the relationships between them) continue to mystify her. Carey's long-time friend Pen, and their unfortunate mate Raf (possessed by the demon Asmodeus), take a step back. Although Castor encounters them both briefly, they're less involved in this particular adventure. After the focus on them both in the previous book, this is a welcome break, and shows that Carey isn't a one-trick pony. Mike Carey has successfully made the transition from comic books to novels. Deftly balancing character and story-telling, Carey has created a terrific framing device for presenting mysteries, with a cast of fascinating characters to help tell them.