Debut novelist Simon Kurt Unsworth sends the detective novel to Hell. In The Devil's Detective, a sea change is coming to Hell . . . and a man named Thomas Fool is caught in the middle. Thomas Fool is an Information Man, an investigator tasked with cataloging and filing reports on the endless stream of violence and brutality that flows through Hell. His job holds no reward or satisfaction, because Hell has rules but no justice. Each new crime is stamped "Do Not Investigate" and dutifully filed away in the depths of the Bureaucracy. But when an important political delegation arrives and a human is found murdered in a horrific manner-extravagant even by Hell's standards-everything changes. The murders escalate, and their severity points to the kind of killer not seen for many generations. Something is challenging the rules and order of Hell, so the Bureaucracy sends Fool to identify and track down the killer. . . . But how do you investigate murder in a place where death is common currency? Or when your main suspect pool is a legion of demons? With no memory of his past and only an irresistible need for justice, Fool will piece together clues and follow a trail that leads directly into the heart of a dark and chaotic conspiracy. A revolution is brewing in Hell . . . and nothing is what it seems. The Devil's Detective is an audacious, highly suspenseful thriller set against a nightmarish and wildly vivid world. Simon Kurt Unsworth has created a phantasmagoric thrill ride filled with stunning set pieces and characters that spring from our deepest nightmares. It will have readers of both thrillers and horror hanging on by their fingernails until the final word. In Hell, hope is your worst enemy.
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"Who knew? Hell has crimes of all types and lots of murders. Hell even has a handful of souls that play the roll of detectives. An all powerful Lucifer isn't running things but a Demon/Human Bureaucracy. A lowly member is "Fool" - a human stuck in hell for reasons he doesn't know (nobody does) who is tasked with solving murder cases for no very clear reason - but nothing is very clear inside the Bureaucracy - especially when a delegation from Heaven is on hand. But one murder is special - the soul has been removed - something that should not be possible. Fool is put on the case. One thing leads to another and you get a tour of Hell and its society. No burning sulfar - but a nasty place. Fool's adventure has many phases and is a great time to accompany.
There are a bucket of good audiobooks. Some you chose for the book. Some you chose for the reader. David Rintoul is the best going today along with Ralph Cosham. I put him in the same league as Wolfram Kandinsky and Frank Muller. Readers this good usually get pretty plum books - Rintoul does the readings for the very good Robert Harris novels along with other "classics." This says very good thing about future offerings from "Devil's Detective" author Simon Unsworth. "
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EBergerud (5 out of 5 stars)