Everyone
that knows me, knows that Simon R Green is my favourite author.
Whilst
I have always been LOVING his Nightside books, I've been at least as
big a fan of his Ishmael Jones stories ever since they came out.
They're
set in the same world and timeline as his Nightside, Secret Histories
and Ghost Finders series, but so far there haven't been any
crossovers other than some mentions to the Droods and the
Ghostfinders.
That
said, I absolutely adore the setting, and if you also love murder
mysteries, you should absolutely, totally, right now, go check these
out.
Very
Important Corpses is the third book in the series, following after
the first, The Dark Side of the Road, and its sequel Dead Man
Walking.
The omnious titles are apt, by the way.
I'm
not going to say anything about the previous installments, nor about
the main characters. If you want spoilers, you'll have to find
someone else, because these books are pretty darn amazing and you
need to read them yourself. Trust me, it's worth it.
Obviously,
Ishmael is still the enigmatic lead. And neither him nor his partner
Penny have changed a whole lot. What I love about Ishmael is that,
despite his background, he's still a very real character. He's there
to get things done, and the problem/mystery solved, but he's not a
superhero. From all of SRG's male leads, I feel that Ishmael is the
most human and the most relatable, having his own insecurities and
almost quirks. I feel that Penny and Ishmael are the most “real”
of all SRG's power pairings also, especially in this book, and I
absolutely loved the interaction between them and the other
characters and how they changed and evolved in this book.
Just
like it's two predecessors, this book has dead people in a house and
Ishmael has to find out who did the misdeed. You'd think that the
same kind of setting would get boring, but it really doesn't. The
premise may be the same, the setting is always extremely different.
The supporting cast, so to speak, is different and the leads
continuously grow and involve, so it never gets boring. And of
course, the question always is: will the villain(s) be human or
supernatural monsters, which is also always fun to find out.
I'm
going to stop gushing now, I really enjoyed this book, this is my
favourite in the series so far, and I can't wait to get my hands on
the next one Death Shall Come next month and Into The Thinnest of Air
in June. More Ishamael Jones is always better. Try them, you'll agree
with me if you're also into murder mysteries.
