Vicious Circle (Felix Castor) (Mass Market Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School—This follow-up to Carey's The Devil You Know (Grand Central, 2007) returns readers to a modern-day London where ghosts and zombies have become part of daily life. The novel revisits the lives of many characters introduced in the first book, including the protagonist, Felix Castor, but it stands alone. Castor has returned to his life as an exorcist and quickly becomes involved in a "missing ghost" case that isn't as open-and-shut as it first appears. Similar in style and subject matter to Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's Brimstone (Grand Central, 2005), the book combines the detective thriller with supernatural elements to create a plot filled with suspense, ghoulish apparitions, and the Catholic Church. The narration provides a nice mix of dialogue and action, with humorous undertones sprinkled throughout, as Castor must rely on the help of zombies, werewolves, and a succubus to solve the mystery. Although the story begins slowly, it quickly picks up and comes to a satisfying end, finishing Castor's current adventure with a few subplots that are likely to be tied up in the next novel in the series.—Kelliann Bogan, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Carey, a noted comics writer and creator, follows up his excellent debut, The Devil You Know (2007), with this even better, and even weirder, sequel. Felix Castor, a freelance exorcist, is hired to find a missing person—well, technically, a missing ghost: a young woman who died last year, and whose spirit returned to her family home but now appears to have vanished. (We told you it was weird.) Little does Felix suspect that this seemingly minor case will lead him into dangers more terrifying than anything he could imagine, or that he will soon be trying to stop the resurrection of a demon of almost limitless evil. Considering its scary subject matter, the novel is relatively light, almost breezy, a traditional first-person detective story with a supernatural twist. The cast of characters is appropriately offbeat (Castor’s old friend is possessed by a demon; the object of Castor’s romantic crush is a succubus), and the story is full of scares, then laughs, then more scares. A treat for fans of supernatural fiction and of private-eye yarns. Genre-bending at its best. --David Pitt --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 592 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 1 edition (July 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446618713
• ISBN-13: 978-0446618717
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 4.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #144,347 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Further adventures of Felix, November 20, 2007

By	M. J. Gray (New Zealand) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Vicious Circle A Felix Castor Novel (Paperback)

Felix Castor returns in a dark sequel to The Devil You Know. This time he is trying to contact the ghost of a girl on her parent's behalf, and disentangle his friend Rafi from a rather nasty demon, and pay his rent, and cope with a succubus who wants to be his sidekick. This is edgy, intelligent writing. In spite of, or perhaps because of(like Neil Gaiman), his background in graphic novels, the Felix Castor novelss are not an easy read. I loved it and hope the third one comes out soon.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Felix Castor is an interesting and strong character, July 15, 2008

By	armchairinterviews.com (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vicious Circle A Felix Castor Novel (Paperback)

Felix Castor is back in Vicious Circle. Once again the exorcist for hire is working in a London where the dead walk among the living. While politicians are trying to decide on what rights the dead should have, Felix is trying to change the focus of his life. After the experiences detailed in the first book, The Devil You Know, the exorcist for hire is no longer so sure that what he is doing is the right thing.

So when a couple asks him to rescue the kidnapped ghost of their child, he is unable to resist the challenge. Yet as always, appearances are deceiving. Felix soon finds himself in deep water as he chases the exorcist who abducted the ghost. He in turn, is being tailed by a pair of weres that begrudgingly obey their orders to leave him alive-for now. Throw in murders, riots and a haunted church, and Felix learns that he may be the only thing standing between the world and the apocalypse.

Mike Carey has taken the complex world he introduced us to in the first Felix Castor novel and expanded its borders. None of the characters are simple. Each person struggles with the burdens that have been dropped on them. Whether it is a succubus trying to fit into human society or the leader of an ex-communicated secret order, Carey fleshes them out and makes them real. Along the way he drops hints about ethics and responsibility, leaving us to wonder who the real monsters are.

Vicious Circle is a terrific book. It will stand comfortably on it own, but is also a rock-solid follow up to the first Felix Castor novel.

Armchair Interviews says: Count on Felix Castor to fill in a good story.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Super Reader, October 10, 2009

By	Blue Tyson "- http://freesf.blogspot.com" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vicious Circle (Felix Castor) (Hardcover)

The second Felix Castor is slower than the first and suffers a bit from that. Which is odd given he gets strangled and beaten a lot.

Here he is tasked to find a missing girl, who happens to be dead - so has to find her ghost.

His friends from the previous novel are h ere, Juliet the succubus, Nick the Demon.

Plus some nasty demon summoning (Asmodeus, anybody?) and loup-garou antagonists.

So, pretty average, and I'd hope for improvement in the next installment of Helllblazer lite.