Ghost Ocean

I'll say up front I'm a fan of the Harry Dresden novels, for their mix of magic/fantasy with action and humor. Ghost Ocean initially gave me a sinking feeling--this is not a story with humor, it's more horror and tragedy with a gritty heroine who survives a rite-of-passage coming of age helping out her ghostbuster godfather. If you like the Hellboy comic books or movies, you will be right at home with this story. It's sort of like what you'd get if Hellboy were crossed with Lovecraft and Beto Hernandez' Palomar comic stories, transposed to a rainy, vaguely-described part of the American Northwest. The plot is driven by the assembly of a Seven-Samurai-type posse of monster hunters, including a mumbly mathematical metaphysicist with a working ray gun, a houngan's ghost, an albino witch who wields Tarot cards like shuriken, and a creepy drugged-up pedophile vampire whose rank breath smells of raw hamburger and cigarettes. Ick. The realization of the setting is intricate and satisfying; I started off wondering if I'd accidentally started with Book 2 of a series, since the reader is plopped in media res. By halfway through, the big picture begins to resolve very satisfyingly. Was not my usual rollicking-humor fare, but I was glad I picked it up and look forward to other works by S.M. Peters.

S.M. Peters' GHOST OCEAN (9780451462695, $7.99) tells of Te, who works for a paranormal investigator. When a friend of investigator Babu is murdered under impossible circumstances, Te learns the death has released an ancient power, and finds herself immersed in a world more dangerous than she anticipated. An outstanding fantasy leisure choice perfect for any general lending library.

I'm really liking this author. I am not a steampunk fan and found "Whitechapel Gods" to be great. I bought Ghost Ocean based purely on the depth of "Whitechapel". These are thinking peoples books and will NOT be appreciated by the person perusing for the next Anita Blake series. You have to be able to work through the mysteries and see the story through the narrators own limited visions. Publishers are really doing a disservice to these authors with the covers you see now. They in no way are showing the story and what the book tries to be. And yes, the synopsis on the book is equally terrible, go with the Hatters review above. Good reading.

The Mad Hatter's review gives a great presentation of the general story line. But the author's imagination and descriptive abilities of a very ethereal, mystical world blew me away. It does take a bit of time to get into the story, but where it leads is well worth the effort.

About a year ago I was in my local bookstore and saw a little mass market sticking out of alignment from the rest of the books. At the time it seemed like it was beckoning me. The book turned out to be the most ambitious steampunk novel I've read called Whitechapel Gods by S.M. Peters which was his debut novel. I don't think it got noticed as much as it deserved when first released. The striking cover is perfect for the story which evokes a Victorian England where there is a disease turning people into machines. If you are a fan of steampunk than by all means get yourself a copy of Whitechapel Gods. With Ghost Ocean we see Peters turn his able sextant to Urban Fantasy. Judging by its cover of a pretty girl in a leather jacket it could be lost in the sea of other Urban Fantasies, but it is definitely a cut above the average. Ghost Ocean is very strange with the most bizarre cast of characters placed in the fictitious town of St. Ives where it is almost always raining and monsters of all kind dwell. Told from multiple view points and jumping around in time and memory it could take a little while to get a handle of what is going on just in time for Peters to change the rules, however it is well worth the effort. The story completely fakes you out from what you think is going to be a daughter's search for her father's killer, but is more about the ancient evils that surrounds Te, the main protagonist. Te is a paranormal investigator in training to Babu Cherian who worked with her father before his death five years prior. Along the way you learn Te has been held in the dark about nearly everything and everyone in her life as her father wanted to shield her from this life. It is actually surprising how well adjusted she is given her upbringing by a clearly uncaring mother and a mostly absent father. My one caveat is Te's relationship to Jack, her doting neighbor, in which she leads him around like a puppy into trouble time and time again. But to Te it is all about filling the gap of loneliness inside of her and Jack also provides her a connection she needs to stay grounded. After a very powerful monster escapes its prison Te is brought in on the secrets of her father's past and into Babu's mysterious group of monster hunters in search of the creature. My favorite character from the odd group is probably Munin who is mathematical genius/mad scientist with a toy ray gun. All over St. Ives there are creepy crawlies aching to be set free. The grotesque description of many of the creatures, most notably Bird will stay with you for a long while as will the freak people that surround her. In some ways Ghost Ocean is a dark version of American Gods with Peters' use of mythology and his own inventiveness able to make it stand apart. Ghost Ocean is a wild adventure that keeps pushing harder and further to up the stakes. Fans of Neil Gaiman, Simon R. Green, or Christopher Golden should definitely find Ghost Ocean engaging and fresh. If you are a guy who loves