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The Devil You Know (A Felix Castor Novel) by Mike Carey
01/09/2006 . Source: Sue Davies 
pub: Orbit. 470 page paperback. Price: £ 6.99 (UK). ISBN: 1-84149-413-5. Buy The Devil You Know in the USA - or Buy The Devil You Know in the UK  check out website: www.orbitbooks.co.uk and www.twbg.co.uk
Time was when detective stories involved a hard-boiled guy, a bit sad and looking like Bogey with a hat pulled low over his face. He was unlucky in love - always choosing the wrong broad but he always got the bad guys.
The format hasn't changed that much but these days the detective also happens to be a seer, an exorcist and a ghostbuster. I seem to be reading an increasing amount of these novels. Perhaps it's the evolution of the detective novel since CSI took all the fun out of it.
From the writer of 'Constantine' (graphic novel) comes the first straight novel. The gumshoe/ghostbuster with a shady past and an uncertain future, Felix Castor has retired. He just doesn't want the responsibility of the dead anymore. Well not since his disastrous experience with his best friend, Rafi. Asmodeus is the devil that Felix knows, a demon bound into Rafi's body due to Felix's incompetence.
He's hard up and his landlady has got him a gig at a child's party. This is one tough crowd and as his stage magician and slapstick falls very flat, he can't resist a little supernatural revenge. It's not a good result and although he's made one child's life easier there is no fee at the end of the party. So when the phone call comes about the Bonnington Archive ghost he reluctantly takes it on.
In the course of his investigations, Felix discovers that it's not just the dead he has to worry about. His line of enquiry seems to stir up more than the dust of ages past and quite soon there is someone very dangerous showing an unhealthy interest in his life and the continuation of it.
With an intriguing back story of the risen dead on every street corner and the world becoming part of everyday life, this novel spreads across normal office life, to the supernatural and the criminal. Carey introduces his own variation on some standard supernatural beings, especially his particular close encounters with...well, I'd hate to spoil that bit of the plot. In passing, he manages to take a swipe at office politics and international criminal activity.
This is a modern take on the role of the paranormal investigator. It has snappy dialogue and a great page-turning plot. The gripes I have are mainly to do with the way the de facto presence of the unburied dead are included in the plot. It almost needs a prologue to write this part of the book. That aside, I found it extremely entertaining and engrossing enough to make me look forward to the further adventures of Felix Castor.
Sue Davies
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