Thicker Than Water »

Mike Carey is the acclaimed writer of the comics Hellblazer and Lucifer and the current writer on Marvel's X-Men: Legacy and Ultimate Fantastic Four. The first three novels in his Felix Castor series are The Devil You Know, Vicious Circle, and Dead Men's Boots.

In the fourth gripping book in the highly acclaimed series Publishers Weekly calls "every bit as good as the better-known Jim Butcher," old ghosts of different kinds come back to haunt Felix

Names and faces he thought he'd left behind in Liverpool resurface in London, bringing Castor far more trouble than he'd anticipated. Childhood memories, family traumas, sins old and new, and a council estate that was meant to be a modern utopia until it turned into something like hell—these are just some of the sticks life uses to beat Felix Castor with as things go from bad to worse for London’s favorite freelance exorcist. See, Castor’s stepped over the line this time, and he knows he’ll have to pay; how much is the only question. Not the best of times, then, for an unwelcome confrontation with his holier-than-thou brother, Matthew, and just when he thinks things can't possibly get any worse, along comes Father Gwillam and the Anathemata. Oh joy.

Publishers Weekly

Carey's fourth supernatural thriller featuring London exorcist Felix Castor (after Dead Men's Boots) compares favorably with the better known work of Jim Butcher. When the slashed body of Kenneth Seddon, who tried to kill Castor when they were much younger, is found in his car with the words "F Castor" scrawled in blood on his windshield, the police naturally approach the spook hunter for an explanation. The psychic investigator finds a link between the assault on Seddon and an increase in acts of violence centered on a nearby housing project. A touch of dark humor lightens the grimness of the story line, but the high stakes Carey sets for his protagonist insure that not everything could possibly be wrapped up neatly by the conclusion. The author has mastered the challenge of incorporating the paranormal into a modern urban setting, and his refusal to pull punches makes this a harder-hitting genre entry than many others. (Nov.)