Tag: ghosts

By William Ritter

Happiness is bliss – but ignorance is anesthetic, and in the face of what’s to come, that may be all we can hope for our ill-fated acquaintances.

William Ritter, Jackaby

Summary

Abigail Rook, recently arrived in America, finds tenuous employment with local psychic detective R.F. Jackaby. She is quickly plunged into a new to her reality, where trolls, banshees, ghosts, and more are very very real. In her first case with Jackaby, they are investigating a murder that is not quite as simple as it seems. Jackaby swears that something human-like but decidedly unhuman is behind it. They then meet a man in another apartment in the building who is being plagued with mournful songs that only he can hear. Turns out there is an Irish Banshee in the building, singing a lament for his death-which becomes murder 2. Jackaby and Rook are taken in by the police, and questioned as to their involvement, and are imprisoned as the banshee becomes murder 3. With the help of some begrudging police partners, Jackaby and Rook must save the town.

My Thoughts

Plot

I appreciate that this plot was something slightly new and different. I feel like a lot of books now are realistic or fantasy, but not magical realism. I liked where the author was going. However, I figured out who the bad guy was about 1/3 of my way into the book, and was just waiting for the reveal. Slight description changes or introducing characters later/differently would have resolved this entirely. I kept reading because I wanted to know if the villain was human or supernatural, not because I wanted to find out if I was right-I knew I was right. The ending also felt super rushed in some ways, and dragging in others. I ended up being more confused than I was engaged. Some pieces of lore especially, I think should have been more fully explained prior to the ending.

Format

I listened to this as an audiobook. One of the things I struggled with was the accents that the reader gave to the characters. It was kind of off-putting and I would have much rather she just read them straight. The fake eastern European was probably the worst. Also, the speed at which Jackaby’s character spoke was so slow, even listening at 1.5 speed.

Writing

This book is not an adult book. It is definitely written for a younger YA audience. I wasn’t aware of this going in, so I was expecting a lot more. There was a lot of exposition, which isn’t necessarily bad, but at times it was distracting. The writing style was OK. It was engaging enough, but I found myself lost in some parts, wondering if I missed something, and realizing that I didn’t.

Characters

R.F. Jackaby: To be honest, I really didn’t like Jackabys character. I think the intention was to make him seem a bit aloof to things that were not supernatural. But instead, he came across as pretentious and arrogant. I was expecting some sort of redemption at the end, and just didn’t get that. I did like that he didn’t really care that others thought he was crazy, but the fact that he was always talking down to Abigail didn’t work for me.

Abigail Rook: The entire story was told through the eyes of Abigail. I did enjoy her coming to terms with the fact that the supernatural was actually real. However, for someone who was supposedly very observant, I don’t understand how she did not figure out who the bad guy was beforehand. She was a sweet character, and she was definitely developed-I just wish she was developed differently.

Jenny: Jenny was one of my favorite characters in the book. While not a main character per say, I thought she was cute, funny, and intelligent. I liked her spunk. I wish I knew more of her backstory, since I felt that a lot of it was missing.

Douglas: My other favorite character of the book, Douglas was a man turned into a duck who decided he did not want to turn back into a man. If I were turned into a duck, I think I would feel the same way. He wasn’t your average duck though, understanding English, and still having some human mannerisms. I thought he was a great (though ultimately unimportant) addition to the story.

Inspector Marlowe: I wish I could have liked Inspector Marlowe. He kind of reminded me of Inspector Mallory from the Father Brown TV show. Ornery, and not liking the assistance, but secretly knowing that Jackaby was a good guy. But I just didn’t get that. I felt annoyance rather than humor, which made for an only OK character

Charlie Cane: I was really rooting for Charlie. I wanted him to be so much more than he was. I was hoping that he would have more character development. His twist was a bit less noticeable than others in the story, but I just couldn’t get 100% behind it. I also don’t think that some of the decisions made for this character were necessary. I get that it helped forward the plot towards the end, but surely there could have been other options.

Final Thoughts

I really wanted to love this book, and I did through like 70% of it. But the ending just completely ruined it for me. 3.5 stars