Customer Reviews

Matter of Blood (Dog Faced Gods Trilogy 1)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sarah Pinborough's debut, A Matter of Blood, is something very new and nasty. It combines the streetwise grime of a George Pelecanos thriller with the near future dystopian setting of Richard Morgan.

DI Cass Jones has a lot to deal with - a terrible marriage, a hideous past, a very strange (but successful) brother, a string of inopportune affairs and at least three nasty murder cases. Fortunately, he's a fantastic detective with a good network of useful friends. Unfortunately, he's attracted the attention of some of the world's real players. Starting from the first page, Jones is caught up in a whirlwind of action. Even when his cases are quiet, his own self-destructive tendencies keep things moving. Poor guy hasn't got a chance.

Perhaps the best compliment that could be made to Ms Pinborough's book is that you don't even notice that it isn't a proper mystery. Although science fiction and supernatural elements sneak in, they're done with such natural grace that it doesn't feel jarring. There's one small exception (when the author indulges in a tiny bit of world-building when describing the background of the all-powerful Bank), but aside from that one tiny lapse, she maintains complete and utter suspension of disbelief. This is a realistic (sadly) and engrossing mystery, set in a future that's close enough to touch.

The mystery itself is well-plotted with genuinely surprising twists and turns. The conclusion is also expertly done. Pinsborough deserves congratulations for resolving a tricky nest of mysteries while, at the same time, setting up the sequel.

A highly recommended new release, and an author to watch.

I did quite enjoy this book up to page 100...a look a policing in our fair capital post 2012, and what a very bleak picture was painted. At the heart of this story is Cassius Jones (Cass) who by page 100 I really hated, all his perceived problems were of his own making and his inability to keep his trousers on!! The element of fantasy/horror just did not work for me and added little or nothing to what was nothing more than a boring police procedural story...I was really glad when I had finished and will not read anything by this author in future.

This review was published over at Elitist Book Reviews. Go give out site a visit for more reviews and interviews!

***The Review***

What was the last book you read that completely blew you away? It shouldn't be too hard to remember, especially given the astounding levels of mediocrity present in most genres. Being book reviewers--and this may shock you--we read a TON of books. Horror novels fall apart in the end. Thrillers can almost always be predicted. Dan Brown is, well, Dan Brown. Fantasy gets bogged down in the cliché. SF makes you feel like you need an advanced physics degree. Ever genre has its downfalls. We read so much that for a novel to really stand out, it has to be special.

Have we piqued your curiosity yet?

A MATTER OF BLOOD, by Sarah Pinborough, is special. A lot of horror and mystery with some paranormal and SF thrown in--it pushes all our buttons in all the right ways. The novel takes place in a near-future London...only this London isn't the vacationers dream as we know it. Corruption on all levels has very nearly brought the city to its knees, and it is in the midst of a mini-apocalypse of sorts...only no one seems to notice or really care. Our main PoV is Detective Inspector Cass Jones. He is investigating a high-profile, public shooting of two boys when he is assigned an additional case dealing with a serial killer. Things are "calm" at this point in the novel, and soon go completely off-the-scale crazy.

The very first thing that jumps out in A MATTER OF BLOOD is Cass Jones. He has serious issues. Guilt. Attitude. Drug addiction. Family problems. He doesn't try to be witty. His life sucks too much to even attempt it. But he is also extremely good at his job. His skill helps the reader initially overcome the "dirt-bag" vibe he exudes early in the novel. Don't worry, by the end of the novel you'll love Cass in spite of his problems...or perhaps because of them. We wouldn't even really call Cass an antihero. Though that is all the rage, Cass Jones never wears that particular hat. The attraction to this particular Inspector is that he comes across as a seriously flawed, yet hard working guy. That "human" aspect is the key.

Pinborough's description in this novel is awesome. From describing the dingy streets of London, to the macabre crime-scenes, to the way the whole police business now works is all top-notch. Hazy flashbacks come at the perfect time. It all sets the ambiance and the mood just right. There is a palpable Raymond Chandler, noir/hardboiled feel to it all. That alone should be enough to get you salivating.

The pacing in A MATTER OF BLOOD is fantastic. Right when you start to worry that things are slowing down too much, Pinborough twists the story a little more through whatever means she feels necessary. She doesn't ever seem to be afraid to genre-mix, and she never pulls punches. Ever.

Perhaps the best descriptor we can give is that A MATTER OF BLOOD is everything we hoped R. Scott Bakker's thrillers would be. Where his thrillers have ultimately fallen completely flat in our opinion, Pinborough's novel succeeds and excels in every way.

Now like we said, the endings of 90% of all Horror novels unravel and completely ruin the rest of the novel. Not so in this case. The ending to A MATTER OF BLOOD made it better. It was completely perfect, awesome and shocking. When everything starts coming together, and the Cass puts the pieces together, it is SOOOOOO GOOD. We couldn't turn the pages quick enough. While a bit of it was kinda predictable, it was the sinister and horrific tiny twists that made it frakking awesome.

Sarah Pinborough's A MATTER OF BLOOD is horrific and gripping. It immediately vaults into our top novels not just in the Horror genre, but in any genre. It perfectly encapsulates all the great qualities of Crime Fiction, Horror and Urban Fantasy with a little SF thrown in for kicks. EVERYONE should read this novel.

Currently A MATTER OF BLOOD is only available in the UK, though Sarah hinted at a US release through Tor later this year. We don't care if you import it now or wait for the US release. We've already bought the UK edition, and we'll buy copies of the US version too. Yeah, for us it was THAT GOOD. Her second novel has just been released in the UK, and we will probably put our lives completely on hold to read it.

Recommended Age: 18+
Language: Gritty Crime/Horror. Tons of swearing, but it never actually feels overused somehow.
Violence: Our good buddy James Barclay (we owe you one, James) pointed us in Sarah's direction with the promise of awesomely described violence. He's never led us astray before, and he didn't this time. Crazy, crazy stuff.
Sex: Talked about very, very openly and often, but never actually shown in explicit detail.

`A Matter of Blood' is the first book in Sarah Pinborough's `The Dog-Faced Gods' trilogy.

This is a dark and sinister read. Not least of all because it hits so close to home. Pinborough is writing about a not-too-distant future, only a few years away in fact. The GFC (Global Financial Crisis) has not abated, and in an effort to limit the fallout a conglomerate World Bank is created. Funded by billionaires Gates and Branson, in partnership with Japan, China and Russia, `The Bank' now runs all of the Western World's property and bank accounts in a bid to stave off a crippling depression. It is indeed a corporate-run world, and the times they are a changin'. Crime is on the rise, health-care is nonexistent and citizens are on-edge.

It is in this climate that the city of London is rocked by reports of a serial killer on the loose. `The man of flies is among us' - preying on young women and leaving a gruesome maggot trademark that the papers would salivate over.

On the case is Detective Inspector Cassius `Cass' Jones.
DI Jones brings to mind a very apt Raymond Chandler quote; "Police business is a hell of a problem. It's a good deal like politics. It asks for the highest type of men, and there's nothing in it to attract the highest type of men. So we have to work with what we get."
Jones is an imperfect hero, to say the least. He is dogged by memories of an undercover stint, in which the criminal underworld lured him in, and never really let him go. He is a self-confessed skirt-chaser whose marriage to wife Kate has never fully recovered from his first, and subsequent, infidelities. He snorts coke (recreationally) and has far too much in common with the heavyweight criminals he polices.

But there's something undeniably appealing about Cass Jones, even when there shouldn't be. He is very aware of his various vices, even embarrassed by them. He believes himself to be irredeemable - a lifetime of bad choices and stupid mistakes and he's all but written himself off. He is his own underdog, and you can't help but hope that he finds something within himself that is worth fighting for.

Despite all of his negatives, Cass Jones is a damn good cop. Not least of all because he feels an obligation to the victims whose murders he investigates. He imagines those victims are clawing at him, their hands always picking at his clothes as they beg for his attention and delivery of justice.

It's an eerie image that Jones conjures for himself; but it illustrates his relentlessness, and the heavy burden he places on himself to do the right thing. If not for himself, then for the dead whose afterlife is entrusted to him.

Jones's already complicated life is further shattered when his younger brother commits murder-suicide; killing his wife, son and then himself. Jones is dragged into the murky depths of his brother's murderous motivations - and Jones comes perilously close to the breaking point when he starts seeing his dead brother's ghost.
What is this eerie apparition trying to communicate to Cass? And how does his brother's death link to `The Bank' and the `Lord of Flies' serial killer?

This book is an absolute feast of genre. It is a thriller, but with heavy supernatural undertones that undercut the murder-mystery and make it all the more sinister and intriguing. Pinborough evokes such a bleak setting and her characters are so gray that her writing is reminiscent of noir 'hardboiled' fiction. And certain aspects are also quite Shakespearean; like Cass's dead brother haunting him from beyond the grave being Hamlet-esque in reference. Pinborough is quite masterful in her marrying of these various genres and sub-genres, making the book a truly exciting read.

Pinborough can write gritty and gruesome with the best of them, but it's her over-arcing conspiracy/thriller plot that will lure you in and ensure that `A Matter of Blood' stays with you long after you've put the book down.

In `A Matter of Blood' Pinborough has built a very bleak future that is entirely too close for comfort. She weaves a tangled web that I cannot wait to unravel in the next two books of the `God-Faced Dogs' trilogy.