‘Johannes Cabal the Detective’ – Jonathan L. Howard (Doubleday/Headline)

Jonathan L. Howard’s ‘Johannes Cabal the Necromancer’ was one of those books that sounded intriguing but I somehow never got round to reading. ‘So many books, so little time to read them all’ and other excuses... ;o) It didn’t so much fly under my radar, more a case of being pushed. In one of those strange quirks of fate, ‘Johannes Cabal the Necromancer’ ended up being one of those books that everyone else seemed to like (seriously, check out Here and Here for starters) but I still never seemed to get round to picking up. My ongoing resolution to be in at the start of potentially great series took a bit of a knock here but I resolved not to be beaten (at least, not too badly). When I was asked if I would like to see a copy of the sequel I jumped at the chance, both to see if all the good words were justified and also to see if I could jump on here without having read the first book (as I like to give this a try every now and then)...

Fresh from the events of the first book (which I won’t go into for fear of spoilers for those who haven’t read it) Johannes Cabal is about to face an enemy far worse than those who lurk in the lowest pits of Hell... human politics.
An attempt to steal a rare book leads Johannes Cabal to a voyage on board the airship ‘Princess Hortense’ (under an assumed identity) via the resurrection of a dead emperor and the subsequent breakdown of law and order in a small country. A voyage should be the ideal way to relax, after such exertions, but life is never so easy for our necromancer hero. A death on board the ‘Princess Hortense’ provides an intriguing mystery for Cabal to chew on; an attempt on Cabal’s life makes solving the mystery a little more urgent... Things aren’t quite as they seem on board the ‘Princess Hortense’, Cabal must get to the bottom of things before he becomes just another body falling from the decks of the airship...

Going with the second reason (for picking this book up) first... I found ‘Johannes Cabal the Detective’ to be a book that was very accessible despite not having read the first book. What we’re looking at here is a book with a self contained plot where a thorough examination of the main character means that you don’t have to have read the first book in order to enjoy this one. And you will enjoy it, more of that in a little bit though...
Having said all that though, Howard appreciates that there are those among us who will want to know at least some of the events that led up to Johannes Cabal being in the situation that he is. For these people, Howard populates his text with little snippets of background history to flesh things out and fill us in. I particularly liked the way that this was done, I came away knowing a lot more about the character (than I did previously) but never felt that this information had got in the way of the story at hand. If only more books could be like this...

I said that you’ll enjoy ‘Johannes Cabal the Detective’ and I wasn’t lying. You’ll have to work for it though... Johannes Cabal himself gradually becomes an absorbing character who carries the plot beautifully but he’s not someone whom it’s easy to get to know and that can make the plot drag a little at the same time. Cabal is a man of science, as well as a criminal mastermind, and his resulting detachment from the rest of humanity seems to be the only part of him that we really get to see much of. While this approach makes for some deliciously devious and funny moments at times it can also feel a little overplayed (over the course of an almost three hundred page novel) and the joke does wear a little thin as a result. Hints of other facets of Cabal’s personality promise good things for future books but he’s more than a little one dimensional at the moment. We’re lucky in that the one dimension comprises witty sarcasm, a sharp mind and a capacity to surprise his enemies; I wouldn’t have minded seeing a little more though...

Once you get past this, the rest of the story is a joy to read; a gripping detective tale with answers that are hidden in plain sight but hidden so well that you won’t notice them until Howard wants you to. When you are shown the answers, it all makes perfect sense and you’ll wonder why you didn’t see it right from the start.
The reason is that Howard proves to be more than adept at carefully planting the seeds of questions (along with innumerable red herrings) throughout the book. Readers are led up blind alleys only to find that their questions still haven’t been answered, they’ve got to keep reading to have any hope of that. This is what kept me reading; Howard delivers a mystery that you just have to get to the bottom of and the payoff more than matches the build up. The revelation is all the more effective for its sheer simplicity.

Not only does Howard deliver a devilish mystery but he also wraps it all up in a gorgeous ‘steampunk noir’ atmosphere that had me slowing down, every now and then, to enjoy either skulking in various European alleyways or flying high above them in the ‘latest flying machine’. The character Leonie Barrow also makes for a fine partner for Cabal’s crime solving exploits as her ‘up front’ approach forces Cabal to come out of himself as the book progresses. Add in Howard’s tendency to go off on comedic tangents (comes close to being overdone but isn’t ) and I was pretty much onto a winner the second I started reading.

‘Johannes Cabal the Detective’ initially has its problems but overcomes these and proves to be nothing less than a thoroughly entertaining read. I still may not find the time to read ‘Johannes Cabal the Necromancer’ (too many other books to read first) but you can count on my being there when the next book is published. I’m looking forward to it already... 'Johannes Cabal' is published by Doubleday in the US and Headline over here in the UK.