Hammers on Bone (Persons Non Grata, #1)
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Average rating3.7
"John Persons is a private investigator with a distasteful job from an unlikely client. He's been hired by a ten-year-old to kill the kid's stepdad, McKinsey. The man in question is abusive, abrasive, and abominable. He's also a monster, which makes Persons the perfect thing to hunt him. Over the course of his ancient, arcane existence, he's hunted gods and demons, and broken them in his teeth. As Persons investigates the horrible McKinsey, he realizes that he carries something far darker. He's infected with an alien presence, and he's spreading that monstrosity far and wide. Luckily Persons is no stranger to the occult, being an ancient and magical intelligence himself. The question is whether the private dick can take down the abusive stepdad without releasing the holds on his own horrifying potential"--
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2 primary books#1 in Persons Non Grata
Persons Non Grata is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2016 with contributions by Cassandra Khaw.
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John Persons is a PI who gets hired by someone to kill their stepfather. That someone is a ten year old child. The stepfather is a monster...but as it turns out so is Persons.
I am not well versed in Lovecraftian horror. I know what it is but I'm no expert on the genre as I've only read a book or two here and there. This book fits that bill. Now here's where I am unsure of how I feel fully about this book....Lovecraftian horror, set in the early 2000s with a PI who speaks like he's a noir character straight of the 40s and he's the only one. That being said the story IS a good one albeit short. Roughly 100 pages. And Khaw seems to have the ability to pack a lot into a short story and have it all flow well.
A wonderful cross of noir and Cthulhu Mythos storytelling that never feels like parody.
4 stars I think. As in “I think I enjoyed this.” but I can't be totally sure. I was confused yet intrigued through most of the book but I do love the way it's written.
“Human anatomy surrenders to the pragmatism of combat. Muscles unbraid, sinews lengthen, even as veins become garrote and bones blade. In minutes, we're viscera commanded by will, flayed tissue, tendon, and teeth.”
I'm mean, what a way to write a book! It's Lovecraftian body horror mixed with film noir. So strange and yet so interesting.
