Dead to Me: Anton Strout

Simon Canderous has the gift of psychometry i.e he can read the history of an object psychically with his hands. Unfortunately for Simon, this isn't as cool as it sounds. It costs him a nice evening with a lusty young woman when he gets a reading off her-about a naughty New Orleans encounter-that sends her out the door, screaming obscenities. How can a man get any kinda trim with a power like that?

Though Simon was a delinquent in his younger days he has since reformed and now works for the D.E.A, the Department of Extraordinary Affairs. The D.E.A. handles any and all supernatural action that happens in New York city; all the things that people pretend they don't see. Simon has been learning to better use his powers but he still has a long way to go. Unfortunately he stumbles across his latest case rather ungracefully when he spills his coffee through a woman... yes, through her. Irene is dead, murdered actually but she doesn't realize it yet. While Simon is trying to help Irene navigate her new path he stumbles across the Sectarian Defense League-cultists have gone bureaucratic-and a hot blonde who may be evil but she has the cutest smile. Add in a group of ghost sniffing junkies, a homicidal bookcase with very large teeth, and hot-eating zombies and Simon will have his hands full trying to solve this case before Irene gets sniffed away.

"I now understood what happened as I let loose the lamps of war..."

Any book with a line like that deserves a gold star. This is the first novel from Anton Strout and the first in a series. There are some weak points that need to be cleaned up but that really depends on your point of view. The book is written entirely tongue-in-cheek and I found myself laughing hysterically at several points. The D.E.A. has sections like Haunts General and Things That Go Bump In The Night which can be called childish, as some have said, or just plain amusing. That's my take. The narration is good, but it can get a bit draggy in places. All in all though, I think this is a great shot out of the gate and I can't wait to see what else happens from here.
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Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Ace (February 26, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0441015786
ISBN-13: 978-0441015788