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The GearWitch Investigations #1
The Art of Madness
Phoenix McGee became a detective to show the world he was mature and reliable, capable of running his own life and business. It’s just a shame he can’t adult his way out of a paper bag. Being attuned to the clockwork nature of the universe and able to bend the fundamental laws of reality comes with the bonus that his powers don’t show up under any scans, leaving him in a loophole where he can use his powers without legal restriction...or protection.
On the verge of losing everything, he takes on a simple case of suspected adultery, something to keep the lights on and the creditors at bay. Little did he suspect his life would become a chaotic whirlwind of false leads, uneasy alliances, mob ties, and a woman who punches with a sedan. Bodies pile up as he struggles to keep things normal for himself and his assistant, Suzette DiMarco. Phoenix will need his wits if he plans to solve the case and save himself, his livelihood, and everyone around him...because cosmic powers don’t pay the bills.
On the verge of losing everything, he takes on a simple case of suspected adultery, something to keep the lights on and the creditors at bay. Little did he suspect his life would become a chaotic whirlwind of false leads, uneasy alliances, mob ties, and a woman who punches with a sedan. Bodies pile up as he struggles to keep things normal for himself and his assistant, Suzette DiMarco. Phoenix will need his wits if he plans to solve the case and save himself, his livelihood, and everyone around him...because cosmic powers don’t pay the bills.
459 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 3, 2018
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26 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 30, 2017
I saw this recommended on another author's Facebook page whom I follow (R.R. Virdi) and decided to give it a try. It's a five star, quirky and a bit chipper of a magical/science fantasy story. It doesn't feel quite like urban fantasy to me, and it's definitely not sci fi. It's somewhere between. Like marvel comics with more magic. I guess, call it superhero-esque with more magical problems and solutions. It's a first book, and reads like one. Not a bad thing. It's well-edited. The writing is a unique twist on genres where the characters are normally more gritty and grizzled and more snarky. It's not first person as usual per the genres, but third person where you can everyone's thought. Gives you more of the story than what's limited to one person.
Overall, I liked it. 5/5
Think a happier Doctor Strange who's kinder to people and has a more childlike sense about him.
Overall, I liked it. 5/5
Think a happier Doctor Strange who's kinder to people and has a more childlike sense about him.
July 30, 2017
Great introduction into a world of superheroes and magic. A bit like x-men, doctor strange and urban fantasy. It was a little hard at first getting used to the pov switching and third person for the genre.
April 14, 2020
I received a free review copy of this audio book, at my request, and am voluntarily leaving this unbiased review.
This book is a mix of sci-fi/super hero, that falls somewhere in the middle. This is often a mistake, trying to do both and ending up neither being done well, however this author does a good job of it.
The author's note at the beginning of this book mentions that this is first book written in this series, but not necessarily the first book chronically and that he wants each book to be accessible as an individual entry, without the need for reading each book before it. This is often done in movies, (Indiana Jones, etc) but less often in books.
This book references a lot of history of the characters, previous cases, past instances, etc, which presumably will be address in future books. However, as these books are adventure/mystery in nature, I suspect this will be hard to pull off. For example, in Indiana Jones: Ark of the Covenant Indi didn't spend the movie talking about what happened years earlier in the Temple of Doom. While this doesn't affect the quality of this book, I still think it is a mistake to spend so much time dropping hints at future work that isn't written yet.
What does affect this book is that none of the events that are hinted at are developed. An incident will be brought up, characters will take about their significance and then the story will move on without explanation of the background. It leaves the story a little hollow with large gaps in the lore.
The characters are well rounded, as you'd want in a detective story. Very few characters are left without nuance. Most have several, competing motivations, which are often revealed when you think you have a handle on them. This makes for a satisfying journey.
The setting is a little too vague, for my liking. It is set in a fictional town in the US desert. This is fine, especially for a super hero story. But there is no time scale. It seems like present, but it seems future. It is also not clear when supers or mutants become a thing (always there vs new). At times it seems like people are still getting used to the idea, other times like it has always been that way. Also, if it has been long term, I disagree that technology would have progressed the same as it has for us (with out mutants). I would have liked this explained better and a at least hinted at.
The story itself, I found, was too long and suffered from too many chiches. The characters seem (at times) to go out of their way to pad the page length. For example +++very minor spoilers+++ at one point the main character go to confront a mob boss and then proceeds to play the pronoun game. This leads to a big misunderstanding and increasing the length of the book by at least 30 mins. The main character is also supposed to be a great detective, but can't keep his mouth under control when trying to get information out of hostile contacts, leading to increased page counts.
There are also fake outs, where again, the pronoun game is played. Leaving files on "his" desk, etc. Where, as the reader, we are supposed to believe it's this or that, only for a "twist" and it's for someone else, or something else.
Ultimately the plot was too convoluted, and seemed to be only as complicated as it was, just to be more complicated. It didn't feel organic to me (the author taking a story where it lead), it felt very forced (the author making a story go where he wanted it to, even when it didn't fit).
Having said that, most of the story was enjoyable. I had a good time following the characters through their lives. The mystery was engaging, mostly. And the world was interesting, with the different types of mutants. I call them mutants, because they don't seem like super heros, just people with other abilities.
The main mutants focused on, in this book, are werewolves, though there are others. They are people who go about their day, but can change into half wolf or full wolf as needed. They pack like wolves and have the hierarchy of wolves. It is an interesting idea. A bit beaten to death by the end of the book, but interesting none the less.
The narrator, Nicholas Patrella, was OK. He has an extremely familiar voice, that I can't place. He does an alright job, but isn't the right narrator for this book, in my opinion. This book has a lot of touchy feely moments, at random points, and this narrator doesn't do that well. He sounds less like someone being genuine, and more like someone trying to be genuine. If these sections were fewer, this would have been fine, but as they happened every chapter or 2, it became distracting how wrong the voice was. The narrator was good, however, and I can think of other books he would be right for, but just not this one.
All in all, it was a good book, with an interesting story, with well rounded characters and an alright narrator. There were too many issues keeping this from being a great book, however.
The author shows great promise, and I very well may read more in this series, as they are available.
This book is a mix of sci-fi/super hero, that falls somewhere in the middle. This is often a mistake, trying to do both and ending up neither being done well, however this author does a good job of it.
The author's note at the beginning of this book mentions that this is first book written in this series, but not necessarily the first book chronically and that he wants each book to be accessible as an individual entry, without the need for reading each book before it. This is often done in movies, (Indiana Jones, etc) but less often in books.
This book references a lot of history of the characters, previous cases, past instances, etc, which presumably will be address in future books. However, as these books are adventure/mystery in nature, I suspect this will be hard to pull off. For example, in Indiana Jones: Ark of the Covenant Indi didn't spend the movie talking about what happened years earlier in the Temple of Doom. While this doesn't affect the quality of this book, I still think it is a mistake to spend so much time dropping hints at future work that isn't written yet.
What does affect this book is that none of the events that are hinted at are developed. An incident will be brought up, characters will take about their significance and then the story will move on without explanation of the background. It leaves the story a little hollow with large gaps in the lore.
The characters are well rounded, as you'd want in a detective story. Very few characters are left without nuance. Most have several, competing motivations, which are often revealed when you think you have a handle on them. This makes for a satisfying journey.
The setting is a little too vague, for my liking. It is set in a fictional town in the US desert. This is fine, especially for a super hero story. But there is no time scale. It seems like present, but it seems future. It is also not clear when supers or mutants become a thing (always there vs new). At times it seems like people are still getting used to the idea, other times like it has always been that way. Also, if it has been long term, I disagree that technology would have progressed the same as it has for us (with out mutants). I would have liked this explained better and a at least hinted at.
The story itself, I found, was too long and suffered from too many chiches. The characters seem (at times) to go out of their way to pad the page length. For example +++very minor spoilers+++ at one point the main character go to confront a mob boss and then proceeds to play the pronoun game. This leads to a big misunderstanding and increasing the length of the book by at least 30 mins. The main character is also supposed to be a great detective, but can't keep his mouth under control when trying to get information out of hostile contacts, leading to increased page counts.
There are also fake outs, where again, the pronoun game is played. Leaving files on "his" desk, etc. Where, as the reader, we are supposed to believe it's this or that, only for a "twist" and it's for someone else, or something else.
Ultimately the plot was too convoluted, and seemed to be only as complicated as it was, just to be more complicated. It didn't feel organic to me (the author taking a story where it lead), it felt very forced (the author making a story go where he wanted it to, even when it didn't fit).
Having said that, most of the story was enjoyable. I had a good time following the characters through their lives. The mystery was engaging, mostly. And the world was interesting, with the different types of mutants. I call them mutants, because they don't seem like super heros, just people with other abilities.
The main mutants focused on, in this book, are werewolves, though there are others. They are people who go about their day, but can change into half wolf or full wolf as needed. They pack like wolves and have the hierarchy of wolves. It is an interesting idea. A bit beaten to death by the end of the book, but interesting none the less.
The narrator, Nicholas Patrella, was OK. He has an extremely familiar voice, that I can't place. He does an alright job, but isn't the right narrator for this book, in my opinion. This book has a lot of touchy feely moments, at random points, and this narrator doesn't do that well. He sounds less like someone being genuine, and more like someone trying to be genuine. If these sections were fewer, this would have been fine, but as they happened every chapter or 2, it became distracting how wrong the voice was. The narrator was good, however, and I can think of other books he would be right for, but just not this one.
All in all, it was a good book, with an interesting story, with well rounded characters and an alright narrator. There were too many issues keeping this from being a great book, however.
The author shows great promise, and I very well may read more in this series, as they are available.
May 6, 2020
( Format : Audiobook)
"You do not insult the raccoon."
This strange, but appealing, mix of science fiction fantasy, super hero and detective is, apparently, not the first title in a new series, just the first one published, with each book devised to be a stand alone read in any order. The main protagonist is a sincere but immature man, still sleeping with and talking to his best friend, a stuffed animal named Bouncer, trying to prove he's a 'functional adult', and, with the assistance of the formidable Suzanne, his secretary, running a badly in debt private investigations agency. Desperate to pay off the huge sum before foreclosure envelopes him, he delightedly accepts a lucrative adultery case, which brings him notoriety but not the anticipated fee. Instead, he is plunged into something much deeper...
Written from a profusion of points of view, The Art of Madness is very fast moving, incident and ideas packed, violent - and great fun. Just when it seems that the mystery is solved, it isn't, and the roller coaster ride begins again. Right down to the very last sentence. Some nice turns of phrase, too, as in the description of one character's voice as sounding 'like sausages being fried to a crisp in old cooking oil'. And the whole is enhanced by Nicholas Patrella's outstanding performance, his reading fast paced, his emotional delivery shadowing and enlightening the text. His sinister laughter is something special. Excellent.
I was very fortunate to have been freely gifted with a complimentary copy of The Art of Madness, at my request, by the rights holder. Thank you so much. It is a long book and could have easily become tedious: I have a low tolerance for many super hero type stories. But this book balanced the fantasy and crazy crime investigation with unexpected revelations and character interchanges well, which, combined with Patrella's narration, made this a fun read throughout. Recommended.
"You do not insult the raccoon."
This strange, but appealing, mix of science fiction fantasy, super hero and detective is, apparently, not the first title in a new series, just the first one published, with each book devised to be a stand alone read in any order. The main protagonist is a sincere but immature man, still sleeping with and talking to his best friend, a stuffed animal named Bouncer, trying to prove he's a 'functional adult', and, with the assistance of the formidable Suzanne, his secretary, running a badly in debt private investigations agency. Desperate to pay off the huge sum before foreclosure envelopes him, he delightedly accepts a lucrative adultery case, which brings him notoriety but not the anticipated fee. Instead, he is plunged into something much deeper...
Written from a profusion of points of view, The Art of Madness is very fast moving, incident and ideas packed, violent - and great fun. Just when it seems that the mystery is solved, it isn't, and the roller coaster ride begins again. Right down to the very last sentence. Some nice turns of phrase, too, as in the description of one character's voice as sounding 'like sausages being fried to a crisp in old cooking oil'. And the whole is enhanced by Nicholas Patrella's outstanding performance, his reading fast paced, his emotional delivery shadowing and enlightening the text. His sinister laughter is something special. Excellent.
I was very fortunate to have been freely gifted with a complimentary copy of The Art of Madness, at my request, by the rights holder. Thank you so much. It is a long book and could have easily become tedious: I have a low tolerance for many super hero type stories. But this book balanced the fantasy and crazy crime investigation with unexpected revelations and character interchanges well, which, combined with Patrella's narration, made this a fun read throughout. Recommended.
October 13, 2021
The concepts in this book are quite entertaining, the world, be it quite difficult to get a grip on as reader, interesting, personalities in this book feel a tiny bit lacking, like the writer assumes we know more than we do.
But it is just not me being contrary, the weird bits of other viewpoints without any context (until almost at the end of the book), the feeling the writer assumes you (as reader) knows more of his world than you do when this is the first book by him you read, it all just is to much off for me to be a page turner, or to want to read the follow up. It just does not fit in my desired reading pattern, that is just the problem for me, it does not have to be one for you.
Alas, but then again, not all writing has to be loved by all readers ;-)
I still gave it 4 out of 5 stars, it is, all in all, an imaginative world with quite some whole new concepts, and I can see this being great for some folks, it is just not for me.
But it is just not me being contrary, the weird bits of other viewpoints without any context (until almost at the end of the book), the feeling the writer assumes you (as reader) knows more of his world than you do when this is the first book by him you read, it all just is to much off for me to be a page turner, or to want to read the follow up. It just does not fit in my desired reading pattern, that is just the problem for me, it does not have to be one for you.
Alas, but then again, not all writing has to be loved by all readers ;-)
I still gave it 4 out of 5 stars, it is, all in all, an imaginative world with quite some whole new concepts, and I can see this being great for some folks, it is just not for me.
June 7, 2017
Good book. Took me a bit to get used to the jumping povs. I wasn't going into this aware that would happen as it's a bit out of the norm for the superhero/contemporary fantasy genres. Many are single third person or first person. It's fun, a bit quirky, I'm not used to so chipper of a main character in these sorts of settings, but it's nice.
Good read and will wait for book two.
Good read and will wait for book two.
June 7, 2017
Not bad for a first book. It's solid. Entertaining.
March 25, 2022
Audiobook narrator review: Nicholas Patrella does a great job with the irreverent, sometimes frantic humor of the book. The main character does NOT have his shit together, and Nicholas lets him be a bit of a mess. I particularly loved the club scene, and his portrayal of some great in-joke characters.
Text review:
Do I have a bias in loving this book? Yes. What is that bias? The villain is named after me! And oh, what style! What panache! What sociopathy!
This one got me hooked right at the And all of Phoenix's jokes about it that followed. Which really says something about me....
Mayall sets up a great universe, which acknowledges what the U.S. would do if the supernatural existed: set up a bureaucracy to lord over them. But, not, like, in an X-Men Mutant Registration Act sense. More like...a DMV. And while out main character, Phoenix, gets to skirt around the supernatural DMV, that doesn't necessarily help him.
Text review:
Do I have a bias in loving this book? Yes. What is that bias? The villain is named after me! And oh, what style! What panache! What sociopathy!
This one got me hooked right at the And all of Phoenix's jokes about it that followed. Which really says something about me....
Mayall sets up a great universe, which acknowledges what the U.S. would do if the supernatural existed: set up a bureaucracy to lord over them. But, not, like, in an X-Men Mutant Registration Act sense. More like...a DMV. And while out main character, Phoenix, gets to skirt around the supernatural DMV, that doesn't necessarily help him.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews