Mike Carey has written an awful lot, but unless you read comics you’re unlikely to know the name - he’s worked on titles like X-Men and Ultimate Fantastic Four for Marvel, but is perhaps better known for his runs on Hellblazer and his magnum opus Lucifer for DC’s Vertigo imprint.
Certainly, those titles are more relevant in regards to this, his first novel, because it dabbles in the same murky waters of demons and supernatural oddness that his Vertigo work covered. In fact his hero, freelance exorcist Felix Castor, bears an obvious similarity to Hellblazer’s own John Constantine, in that they’re both London-based combaters of other-worldly mischief - and indeed both bastards, albeit generally well-meaning ones. But Carey’s own creation is on the whole a more likeable character, certainly more sympathetic, and although his does some fairly atrocious things throughout the course of The Devil You Know, you can always side with his intentions if not his methods.
Carey presents us with an alternative world where, some years back, the dead began to return in unprecedented numbers. Ghosts are a common sight; almost an accepted part of day to day life, but not so accepted that someone like Castor can’t make a good living. The complex but rarely convoluted story involves Castor returning to the exorcism business after a period of retirement (brought about by the traditional job-that-went-horribly-wrong), to take on a seemingly straightforward case which develops into something much larger, more sinister and distinctly life-threatening.
On the surface it sounds like another of those hideous supernatural thrillers that seem to keep crawling out of the post-Buffy the Vampire Slayer woodwork, are aimed squarely at the weekend Goth crowd and feature heroes or heroines with preposterously romanticized names and ludicrous origins (“Regina Bloodlace, half were-wolf professional circus performer). The difference here is that Carey is a bloody good writer, and wisely chooses to ground the stranger extremes of his fantasy in hard reality rather than let them run roughshod over the plausibility of his tale. The fantastical elements are explained convincingly and worked in superbly, to the point where you soon accept them and concentrate on the Chandleresque contortions of the narrative instead. Every character is written thoroughly, and Castor is a marvellous protagonist, likeable and contemptible in equal parts and supported by a rock-solid back-story. Carey’s style is constantly imaginative and evocative and - apart from a couple of vague implausibilities and a slight ebb of pace around the middle - holds a fast pace for 500-odd pages, without ever sacrificing detail and description.
I bought this on the strength of Mr Carey’s often-excellent comics work, and as you can probably tell, liked it a lot - if anything, he’s a better prose writer, and the additional breathing space offered by the novel format serves him well. As evidenced by Lucifer, Carey knows his stuff and isn’t afraid of research, But The Devil You Know doesn’t beat you over the head with its erudition - it’s smartly written without being pretentious or laboured. I would highly recommend it, perhaps as holiday reading for those of you who would rather claw their own eyes out then read the latest Dan Brown “thriller”.
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- Dave in Hub - sonandfoe.com on August 7, 2007
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