The Devil You Know: Felix Castor, Book 1

Earlier this year I read my first Jim Butcher novel and loved it. Whenever, I researched Jim's novels, one name was always mentioned in conjunction: Mike Carey.With his Felix Castor series, Mike delves into the supernatural too but his books are set in London which make them that bit more fun for me.Felix Castor is a struggling exorcist. Temporary retired although not officially. Since an early age he could see ghosts (or was sensitive) to such things. We are introduced to Felix as he is struggling to make ends meet and takes on a short term job as a children's entertainer/magician.The result of the unwanted job and how it unfolds, informed me all I needed to know about this book. I was going to like it in a big way.Felix is a wise cracking, smart mouth but not overly so. He is handy in a fight but again not overly so. He is confident in his ability but you guessed it, not overly so. Felix would rather run than fight. He knows when he is outmatched and so adjusts his position accordingly. It is this refreshing take on a character that endeared me to Felix so much.I am so used to reading about characters that although have flaws, doesn't stop them being a badass. Felix is not one of these yet he still manages to come across that way.Inevitably, Felix is forced to delve back into the supernatural world and rid Bonnington archives of a ghost: A girl with a veil over her head that has been seen multiple times.This is more of a mystery novel more than anything else. The supernatural elements (as with Jim Butcher) are embraced as the norm rather than explained. Felix knows what he has to do to get rid of spirits but has no idea why it works. This part of the story works well. It sets the stage for things to be discovered in subsequent novels thus making the story feel fresh.Inevitably, as Felix uncovers more about the ghost of Bonnington, all is not as it seems. Rather than a malignant spirit haunting the poor workers at the archive, Felix senses there is something more sinister going on. What follows is a great mystery that twists and turns more times than a hog roast.The supporting cast are great. The ever reliable Pen is a constant in Felix's life, but the workers in the archive are also well portrayed. There are other supernatural creatures and they are described in vivid detail but also succeed in being believable.As I mentioned, the setting is mostly in London, and so personally it is great to picture the locations that Felix traverses. Especially as I have just started working nearby one or two.I am struggling to come up with any negatives about the book. It is no epic novel I guess, but it is exactly what it sets out to be. A fun tale, a little gruesome in places but overall great stuff. My rating: 8.8

I find Carey's alternative London, full of ghosts and zombies to be fascinating and I've never seen anything like his take on were-creatures before (essentially, they're ghosts that bind animal flesh to themselves to form a human shape). He skillfully uses Felix Castor's first person perspective to help navigate through this world and Castor's distinctive voice easily makes you buy into what is happening.The central mystery to the story revolves around a veiled ghost haunting a documentary archive in central London. From a benign start the ghost has started to attack some of the employees and the curator wants it exorcised as quickly as possible. The problem is that Castor has been warned that getting involved in the case could kill him and as he tries to work out who the ghost is and why she's haunting the building, he discovers links with a sinister underworld criminal who brings new meaning to the word 'ruthless' and also to rogue exorcists who are taking their art to frightening levels.There is some padding to the story - notably a scene where Castor visits Bunhill Row cemetary to try and center himself, which doesn't add a great deal. Strictly speaking, I think that the beginning of the story (where Castor is performing as a magician for a childrens' party) is an obvious way to crowbar in one plot strand aimed at fleshing out the mystery. It's entertaining but I wonder if Carey could have achieved the same effect in a different way.I also thought that some of the characters were a little cardboard cut out. For example, the main villain has evil written through him like a stick of rock, which kind of takes away some of the mystery element, and makes the ending a little predictable. This is particularly disappointing when Castor himself is such a multi-levelled character - a reluctant hero who's not entirely comfortable with what he does.I'm surprised to find this book labelled as a horror novel, when to me it seemed to be quintessential urban fantasy. There are some disturbing moments - notably with the succubus Juliet but the description isn't excessively gory and does fit in with the plot. All in all it's a good, solid read and with enough dark humour to keep you wryly chuckling.

I have come late to the doings of Felix Castor, but I'm jolly glad I have. 'Fix' is a troubled, broke exorcist at a time when ghosts have become a commonplace part of life and an exorcist is little more than a pest control service. Throw in necromancers, demons and loup garous and you have a world with all sorts of nastiness to negotiate. Fix is good at his job and should be making a packet but he's backed away from all that after an exorcism went horribly wrong with disastrous long term consequences for the victim. In an attempt to pay off some of his more conscience twanging debts to his long suffering landlady, he ends up reluctantly accepting a request to exorcise a ghost afflicting a historical document archive. But something doesn't ring true and he ends up becoming intrigued by the ghost herself and is sucked into a mystery that he cannot help himself but try to solve.It's difficult to say what era these stories are set - it doesn't come across as quite present day; there's a 1980s London twang to it and the Internet is barely mentioned. I liked the character of Fix, even though he inhabits that private eye cliché, a cynical but self aware character often struggling to come to terms with the moral consequences of what does. He's well read, has a nice line in sardonic humour and is unafraid of a fight, but is no hero, is occasionally petty and will break the law to get what he wants. It was not much of a surprise when I realised Mike Carey wrote many tales for Hellblazer, aka John Constantine. If you are familiar with the doings of Constantine, you'll know the sort of thing to expect here.