Blood & Shadows

Rating:
Summary: Michael Main knocks 'em DEAD...
Review: Incredibly well-written, imaginative and above all else FUN! The characters, plot and world are all well thought through with many twists on conventional undead mythos. Anyone with a well-developed sense of humor, wit and imagination should LOVE this book. Stop reading the reviews already... go buy this book!

I laughed out loud and cannot wait for more files from the smart-assed, undead detective, Eric Baine (oh yeah... and from that Michael guy behind the keyboard too).

Rating:
Summary: Brings New Meaning to the Word
Review: Okay, so you've got this detective who's dedicated his existence to ridding the world of evil. He's strong, sensitive, and...oh, yeah...he's dead.

"Blood and Shadows" is a new kind of detective novel; not only are the stakes much higher (the destruction of the world), but our hero isn't the virile, sexy type. Eric Baine, the Dead Detective, patches himself up with spackle after gunfights. He wears a metal plate to cover up the missing part of his head. When faced with (well, relatively speaking) mortal danger, the spirit controlling his body takes over and obliterates any threat with a blinding green light. Mike Hammer, he ain't.

Therein lies the beauty of this novel. Main spices this supernatural tale with dark humor, morals, and even romance. The relationship between Baine and Ming Li, his mysterious Chinese muse, is touching--simply because it's one of the more seemingly possible things in a universe of impossibility. Dead guys need love, too.

The fact that this is Main's first published novel is a shame--this quirky concept has fleshed out nicely and, should Main continue to offer new Baine adventures, he will have breathed new life into a dying genre. (Okay, the puns are a little much...but you get the point, right?) "Blood and Shadows" is a funny, gripping, wonderful novel.