‘Unholy Ghosts’ – Stacia Kane (Del Rey)

A reader recently asked me if my ‘current overwork and malaise’ had coloured my perception of a certain book that I reviewed for the blog. I’ll stand by what I said about that book but I can see where they’re coming from, especially with some of the stuff I’ve had to deal with over the last couple of weeks. I don’t know about you but if I’m having a bad day then it’s only really going to be a ‘comfort re-read’ that does it for me.
There are some books though that will get on my nerves no matter what mood I’m in. Despite a promising beginning, ‘’Unholy Ghosts’ ended up being one of those reads. Here’s the blurb...

The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen, and the living are under attack. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully tattooed witch and freewheeling ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for banishing the wicked dead. But Chess is keeping a dark secret: She owes a lot of money to a murderous drug lord named Bump, who wants immediate payback in the form of a dangerous job that involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in lust for a rival gang leader and a dangerous attraction to Bump’s ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it. Hell, yeah.

Anything with a hint of the ‘post apocalypse’ is always a welcome thing for me and ‘Unholy Ghosts’ provided that in spades, creating a dark and oppressive landscape for a battered humanity to cower in. Add a drug using main character whose job is to debunk ghost sightings (but seems to end up getting on the wrong side of real ghosts) and I thought I was in for some fun.

And then things went south in rather a hurry. I should have read the blurb a little more closely...

I was ok with Chess having an awkward time with the one night stand she was still attracted to. I could even let it slide when she started to develop feelings for her drug dealer’s chief enforcer. When she started to fall for a rival gang leader as well? It was at that point where I found myself thinking that I could be reading any one of a number of other urban fantasies. While the setting promised something original (or at least, something that I hadn’t come across), the willingness to steer the plot wholeheartedly into generic love triangle territory really lessened the impact of what was turning out to be a fast paced and fun adventure.
One lady having to choose between three guys, call me a cynic but I could tell how it was all going to go down - loads of sexual tension, Chess goes off with the one that the reader least expects but who is also the one that the reader secretly wants Chess to get together with. If you can see what’s going to happen this early on (just over a hundred pages into a three hundred and forty six page book) then there isn’t a lot of point in continuing reading. At least, that’s what I thought. Other than urban fantasy series that I’m already reading (where a relationship is growing and could go anywhere) I’m pretty much done with this kind of plot.

‘Unholy Ghosts’ promised to be fun and if you’re into urban fantasy where the heroine has to make a tough choice between three likely guys (while saving people from the perils of the supernatural) then I think that you’ll still end up having a lot of fun with this one. Unfortunately, I’m after something a little different and this one just wasn’t for me...