On the Bookshelf

Capac Raimi arrives in the City ready to work alongside his uncle, working as a gangster. Capac plans to make it big and it is not long before he grabs the attention of The Cardinal. The Cardinal is ruling crime lord in the City. Nothing happens in the City without The Cardinal knowing and none would dare challenge him and Capac thinks that he might just have what it takes to take over for The Cardinal. But something is bothering Capac. He has no memories prior to his arrival in the City and no tracable history, only the face of a woman that haunts his thoughts. Who is she? More impotantly, who is he?

I had no idea what to expect when I picked up Procession of the Dead by D.B. Shan. As I mentioned when I featured it for Teaser Tuesday, it was pretty different from any other book that I have read in recent times.

It was good in it's own right but at first did not seem like the kind of book that I would be attracted to and I was pretty slow to get into it. However, there is an excellent vein of mystery that runs consistently through the book which kept me invested enough to want to see it through to the end. These mysteries were cleverly woven into the narrative and revealed at a pace that kept me invested and I honestly do not think that I could have been satisfied to set this book down without knowing all of the answers.

I liked the lead character, Capac, and he was accompanied by some other rather interesting sorts, especially Conchita and Paucar Wami and, of course, unravelling the mystery of The Cardinal himself.

Dark, gritty, and set in a modern gangster environment, Procession of the Dead is subtle when it comes to the fantasy and science fiction elements so an interest in gang and crime fiction along with a love for solving mysteries might help someone to get into this book better. I for one have never been much one for crime fiction but I found the mysteries in this compelling. I have not yet decided if I will read the next book in The City series, Hell's Horizon, or not. It is a maybe for after I have worked through my already large enough to-read pile.

Terra