It’s a pretty solid down the rabbit hole of the occult via a police officer that witnesses something horrific and uncanny. I don’t think there’s anything here that’ll blow your mind if you’ve read something like this before, but the plot is fresh enough to combat the overused framework.

Have you seen Fallen or read The Dresden Files? You’ll even passingly next familiar with the story. It does have a few sidewinders that differentiate it, such as jumping between past and present. In the past, a black FBI officer investigated strange things happening, in the future a woman investigates something, and the two converge.

The plot clips along nicely, the characters are pretty engaging, though sometimes it feels like the authors can’t decide if they’re going for commercial fiction or not, in terms of structure and prose. I’m not sure if it’s handling of racial issues as a white man in Canada, but it seems to already have led to polarizing reviews. One of the investigations is a white man who has been lynched. The intent is a kind of sick perversion but whether or not it’s serviceable you the aims of the story is debatable.

That being said. I found it to be fun and satisfying. It won’t blow you away but it’s not meant to. This is a setup for a series as well. So if you haven’t read or watched movies like this before it might be more substantial and you might get more investment, for which you’ll be rewarded in the future, presumably.

Shout out to NetGalley for the advanced copy. Love that they have audiobooks now. And by the way, the narration for the audiobook is fantastic.