‘Nekropolis’ – Tim Waggoner (Angry Robot)

Whether it’s an urban fantasy or hard boiled crime thriller, there’s something about the concept of the ‘world weary detective’ that means I keep coming back each time no matter how similar the plot is. There’s something inherently noble about these guys, the world is constantly weighing heavy on them but they keep on putting one foot in front of the other in a quest to do the right thing. Zombies are kind of the same when you think about it. No, seriously! Ok, maybe you can take nobility out of the equation but the rest of it fits. Think about it, have you ever seen anything more world weary than a zombie? I don’t think you have. The world is constantly weighing heavy on these guys but they keep on putting one foot in front of the other in a quest to... eat people. Yeah, the similarity does end there but zombies and private eyes do share that single minded approach, both looking for their own definition of the truth...
It makes sense then to combine the two groups and see what happens when you have a zombie private eye on the case. Al Ewing has done it already with ‘I, Zombie’ and now it’s Tim Waggoner’s turn with one of the opening shots from new imprint Angry Robot...

Matt Richter was a Cleveland cop prepared to go to any lengths to crack a case, little did he know that his tenacious approach would land him in the closest place to Hell that he would ever come across. I say ‘ever come across’ as he’s not going anywhere soon, Matt Richter is a zombie.
Even zombies have to make a living and Matt’s police background makes detective work an easy choice. He’s never had to walk the mean streets of Nekropolis though; a place where all the monsters of the world ended up when humanity stopped being so scared of them. Every day is all about survival for Richter, especially as the preservative spells holding him together are starting to fail, but a new case puts this in the shade. Nekropolis may not be a great place to live but while Richter’s living there it’s his town and he’s not going to let it come to harm...

On the surface, ‘Nekropolis’ is an engaging read that had plenty to recommend it to me. I like detective tales and ‘Nekropolis’ has all the elements this and uses them effectively. There’s a mystery to be solved and every question is answered with another question, just the thing to keep me reading (which it did). I wanted to find out what happened next and although this proved to be fairly easy to work out (a little too easy with hindsight) I kept reading as Richter is a great character to spend time with.

Richter has all the elements of a classic private eye, right down to the cynical (yet noble) attitude that propels him through daily ‘life’. He’s also a zombie though and this puts an interesting spin on the whole case. How can you get away from trouble if your top speed is a determined shamble? How can you lay some hurt on an assailant if you’re in more danger of hurting from it than they are? Waggoner also uses Richter’s zombie body as a means of injecting some sense of urgency into the plot. You may not care what happens to a city full of monsters but you will care that Richter has to solve the case before his body falls to pieces on him...

I found it hard to have sympathy for what’s basically an evil city, that’s in danger of being crushed by a greater evil, but I liked the concept and how it was executed on the page. To a point.
Nekropolis is a thriving metropolis of pretty much every bogey man you can think of and a few more that you probably can’t, full of little incidental descriptions that bring the place to life in the best possible way (I particularly loved the juke boxes and the library...) However, I came away with the impression that it could have been portrayed as being a lot more evil, than it was, and that it was in Waggoner’s power to make this so. This is a guy who’s not afraid to use certain swear words in his work (which I’m not going to repeat here!) but then chooses to go for an ‘evil lite’ atmosphere, this didn’t quite gel for me...

I also found it grating that every part of Nekropolis had to be visited over the course of the book. While I get that authors like to show off their creations, it felt here that the plot was taking second place to a need to visit every street just so the reader could see it. Sometimes you can get more of an atmosphere by keeping things mysterious...

‘Nekropolis’ is a solid and enjoyable read that, for me, fell short of being great. I don’t regret picking it up though and if you’re a fan of detectives or zombies then you’ll get something out of it too.

Seven and a Half out of Ten