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Brother Bones #4
Brother Bones: City of Lost Souls
A CITY OF LOST SOULS For decades, Cape Noire had existed on the northwest coast, a bustling metropolis of international commerce. Over time it became a nexus for all manner of evil and corruption fed by a dark, insidious spirit of darkness that seemed to infuse itself into the city’s very foundations. Then one night the strangest creature of them all was born in the midst of thunder, lighting and murder. He wears a torn black trench-coat, wide-brim fedora and a bone white skull mask while wielding twin silver-plated automatics. He is Cape Noire’s supernatural protector; Brother Bones – The Undead Avenger. At his hands none find mercy, only cold, unforgiving justice. He now returns in five macabre, horror-filled adventures pitting him against both monsters real and imaginary. Among these a notorious fiend garbed in blood red and known as Doctor Satan, Master of the Occult Arts. Once again, Award winning pulp scribe, Ron Fortier, offers up a collection of new Brother Bones exploits from his feverish imagination. In Cape Noire, the fun is only getting started.
148 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 23, 2018
7 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 17, 2018
The undead avenger at his deadly best!
The world of Ron Fortier’s Brother Bones is unabashedly smashmouth noir pulp! To emulate Luke Skywalker when C-3PO asked him what planet he was on: If there is a utopian city where even the poorer areas are well kept and lighted and crime is rather light and violent crime rare, Cape Noire is very far from it! Crime doesn’t just exist in this port town, it teems and thrives! Gunshots are commonplace, murder almost a daily occurrence, and gangs that peddle drugs, prostitution, gambling and vice of every color pretty much run the place.
It takes an unusual hero to deal with Cape Noire—and Brother Bones is that hero! He was once Tommy Bonello, one of a set of twin thugs that worked and murdered for then Mob-Boss Topper Wyld. On a paid rub-out, Tommy Bonella murdered a young girl forced into prostitution. She thanked him with her dying breath.
Tommy changed after that, living as a monk. Shot dead by his own twin, Tommy finds himself reincarnated in his brother’s dead body, his own having been cremated. He is guided by the spirit of the young girl. A candle in his room lights, she appears, and Brother Bones has a new target for the shiny, powerful automatics he uses with deadly force.
This latest book has short pieces that would likely make great extended stories and one long story that is painted with Captain Ron’s usual bold colors. Fans will be glad to know that old enemies and friends inhabit these pages. Foes like Alexis Wyld, daughter of the late Mob Boss Topper Wyld and Harry Beest, gang leader now in the body of a gorilla thanks to Professor Bugosi share page space with pulp villain Doctor Satan and his two weird henchmen. Friends like Bones’ driver Blackjack Bobby Crandall and his girlfriend Paula Wozcheski, now known as Sister Blood, a vampiress still back up the big guy in the white skull mask!
I think I will not give very many hints about the stories. But my dear Captain I loved the incident with the cigarette lighter and the rejuvenation cycle of our bone-chilling hero! Bravo and encore!
I give the book five stars plus! They keep getting better and better and this may be the best one yet!
Quoth the Raven…
The world of Ron Fortier’s Brother Bones is unabashedly smashmouth noir pulp! To emulate Luke Skywalker when C-3PO asked him what planet he was on: If there is a utopian city where even the poorer areas are well kept and lighted and crime is rather light and violent crime rare, Cape Noire is very far from it! Crime doesn’t just exist in this port town, it teems and thrives! Gunshots are commonplace, murder almost a daily occurrence, and gangs that peddle drugs, prostitution, gambling and vice of every color pretty much run the place.
It takes an unusual hero to deal with Cape Noire—and Brother Bones is that hero! He was once Tommy Bonello, one of a set of twin thugs that worked and murdered for then Mob-Boss Topper Wyld. On a paid rub-out, Tommy Bonella murdered a young girl forced into prostitution. She thanked him with her dying breath.
Tommy changed after that, living as a monk. Shot dead by his own twin, Tommy finds himself reincarnated in his brother’s dead body, his own having been cremated. He is guided by the spirit of the young girl. A candle in his room lights, she appears, and Brother Bones has a new target for the shiny, powerful automatics he uses with deadly force.
This latest book has short pieces that would likely make great extended stories and one long story that is painted with Captain Ron’s usual bold colors. Fans will be glad to know that old enemies and friends inhabit these pages. Foes like Alexis Wyld, daughter of the late Mob Boss Topper Wyld and Harry Beest, gang leader now in the body of a gorilla thanks to Professor Bugosi share page space with pulp villain Doctor Satan and his two weird henchmen. Friends like Bones’ driver Blackjack Bobby Crandall and his girlfriend Paula Wozcheski, now known as Sister Blood, a vampiress still back up the big guy in the white skull mask!
I think I will not give very many hints about the stories. But my dear Captain I loved the incident with the cigarette lighter and the rejuvenation cycle of our bone-chilling hero! Bravo and encore!
I give the book five stars plus! They keep getting better and better and this may be the best one yet!
Quoth the Raven…
June 20, 2018
As a fan of Ron Fortier’s award-winning work for comics, like the Green Hornet series and TERMINATOR – BURNING EARTH, I could easily imagine what many characters and scenes in this Brother Bones novel would look like in graphic novel format. In fact, Fortier’s cinematic writing style and the book’s spot illustrations by Rob Davis created a very cool graphic novel in my mind. The realm of Cape Noire is a unique place that includes elements of classic noir and Universal horror films. It’s a world where gangsters, monsters and spirits collide — often and bloodily. Each character, from the undead central protagonist Brother Bones and his vampire friend Sister Blood, to the Frankenstein-like Synthetic Man and human gangsters are well depicted by Fortier. Those characters and the intertwining stories and plots all came together as a five-star supernatural thriller for me.
August 16, 2018
Another great installment in the Brother Bones series. Individual stories that mesh together to give a you colourful, comic book world with great characters you can not help but love. Brother Bones is an unusual hero; a resurrected gangster who is slowly decaying and is guided in his crime fighting by the spirit of a young girl he had killed. With revenge seeking mob bosses, evil doctors and mutated henchmen; Cape Noire is a port town where crime seems to thrive. Brother Bones, with the help of a blackjack dealer and his vampire girlfriend, deals with criminals in his own unique way. The narrator suits this story to a tee. The voices and intonation he uses paired with the authors descriptive writing, creates movie like images in your mind and brings the story to life. This is pulp fiction at its best
September 30, 2018
( Format : Audiobook )
"Ghosts were a silent breed."
Superheros were never this reader's thing. But Brother Bones, an ex murdering gangster sent back after death to expiate for crimes in the wicked world that is Cape Noir at the instructions of a face in a flame, well, he is something very different. In this collection of stories, several shorts and one novella, the reader makes reaquaintance with some unsavoury characters from earlier books and learns more about the transition from murderous twin to the Undead Avenger.
Narrated by the excellent J.Scott Bennett, with distinctive character voicings and a delicious touch of the sinister, the book is witty and evil with a picquency of the poignant.
Great book for all enjoying evil gangsters, the paranormal and the fight for justice in a very unjust world.
"Ghosts were a silent breed."
Superheros were never this reader's thing. But Brother Bones, an ex murdering gangster sent back after death to expiate for crimes in the wicked world that is Cape Noir at the instructions of a face in a flame, well, he is something very different. In this collection of stories, several shorts and one novella, the reader makes reaquaintance with some unsavoury characters from earlier books and learns more about the transition from murderous twin to the Undead Avenger.
Narrated by the excellent J.Scott Bennett, with distinctive character voicings and a delicious touch of the sinister, the book is witty and evil with a picquency of the poignant.
Great book for all enjoying evil gangsters, the paranormal and the fight for justice in a very unjust world.
March 11, 2025
This is Ron Fortier's masterpiece. There are two little gems at the beginning, and then the final 2/3 is a novella called "The Synthetic Man." The action is fantastic, the plots are intricate and nuanced, major revelations concerning Brother Bones' powers and fate are revealed, and there are some moments of genuine pathos. Add to all that the appearance of Dr. Satan, and this is a fan's dream come true (Fortier has worked with Dr. Satan before in a Moon Man crossover, The Hounds of Hell). Works like this are why I stick with New Pulp, sifting through a lot of dross—when everything clicks as it does here, it's quite a rush.
May 17, 2020
Super creative characters and the dismal setting I can’t get enough of brother bones and friends
A fantastic series with excellent narration I think this would appeal to a large audience
I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review
A fantastic series with excellent narration I think this would appeal to a large audience
I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review
October 13, 2021
If you like film noir, read this. If you like pulp, read this. If you've never read new pulp, this is the book you want to start with. It's macabre and fun to read. If Halloween had a hero, Brother Bones is it! The only reason not to read this book is if you don't like to read!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews