Dead Man’s Hand

Welcome to the Bar, let me pour you a drink. I’m getting back to my roots on this post. This is my first book review in a very long time and the first of this re-launch.

My last book review, when I tried to re-launch my blog, was back in October 2021 with My Heart is a Chainsaw. It clearly has been a very long time since I reviewed a book outside of word of mouth.

Don’t get me wrong I have read plenty of books since then. With Goodreads’s help, I have read 39 books since I wrote my last review. So many of those have been amazing books that deserved a review and promotion but my heart wasn’t in it. I had hoped my first book review back would be the sequel to My Heart is a Chainsaw, Don’t Fear the Reaper, but I was already reading this book when DFTR came out and I wanted to finish this first. For me, if I stop mid read to read something else and go back, I’m more lost than if I picked up the book and started halfway through it. As I finished this book I knew this book was worth the review. I wasn’t going to put this one on hold just so I could follow my original plans. As it is, the Paperback will be coming out in a few months so I’m not the first to review this, but I want to give this some attention.

I want to start this review by saying, I’m not a huge Sci-Fi, or Fantasy genre fan. I started as a Mystery/Thriller reader, and then moved onto the Horror gleaner. My attempt at this personal revelation is so you might understand just how much I enjoyed this book since it is outside of my comfort zone. More on this in the future.

WARNING! Shameless plug ahead, but I promise it will make sense.

I’m a huge fan of the Dresden Files!!! I read it originally on a recommendation from a friend of mine when I worked at Barnes & Noble. I stepped out of my comfort zone and was instantly hooked. It is one of the few series I have read multiple times and will continue to read it over and over. I even enjoyed the harshly criticized TV series, with the amazing actor Paul Blackthorne. As a fan of Jim Butcher, when I heard his son was going to be starting his own magical series I initially had reservations, as well as was very curious.

Reservations

Let’s start with my Reservation. I won’t lie to you these are 10% personal issues and I know it. The reason for my reservations all started when I found out Joe Hill was Stephen King’s son. King is one of my favorite authors and I was very excited at the chance to read something his son wrote. Sad to say; I was disappointed. I guess I had this preconceived idea Hill was going to be the instant genius I hold King to be. I know now I never gave him a fair try and had such unrealistic high expectations. I read Heart-Shaped Box and was really disappointed. To this day, I have tried to re-read it and I’m still not a fan.

I’ve grown, and I know that was originally a potential problem with me and Hill. So when I started this book; I really tried to take this book completely on it’s own. It also helped me to get excited about this book when I attended a Zoom call with Jim Butcher interviewing his son James about the book.

This was so much fun. I love on of my favorite authors reading fan questions to his own son. It was so nice to get a level set on how much James’s father influenced him, and what we might be able to expect from James. Apparently Jim only influenced James up to book 5 of the Dresden Files which made me laugh. How do you not continue to read your father’s work?

So the plot. Grimsby is the witch that almost could. All he wanted in life was to be an Auditor for the Department of Unorthodox Affairs, but his hopes are dashed by 1 person; a witch by the name of Mansgraf. Poor Grimsby is then forced to make ends meet being degraded as a party magician for the worst child’s entertainment restaurant around until the witch that dashed his dreams is murdered leaving behind a message in blood that points right to him. To make matters worse the killer thinks Grimsby has a magical item of power. Grimsby is being hunted by a powerful killer and the very agency he dreamed of working for.

If I’m being honest the plot seemed a little familiar. Sure we have read this before, but have we read it with a scarred and scared witch who can barely control the powers he has? Yup, I know several stories like this. My interest originally was purely that fact James is Jim’s son and I wanted to give him a chance. I need more Butcher books while I agonizingly wait for the Next Dresden book. I’m looking at you Mr. Jim Butcher. “Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope”.

The familial reason quickly was replaced as the primary reason I was interested in this. Bottom line, I love these characters. James developed the two main characters, Grimsby, and the Hunter named Mayflower, perfectly in my opinion.

I connected with Grimsby. He’s basically a nerd who dreams of bigger things but knows he has to struggle until he finds a way to what he wants. Totally me in my younger years. In this book we are with Grimsby from what feels like the very beginning all the way to the conclusion. I get it, “That’s how books work bro!”. What I mean here is there is a past for Grimsby and we get bits and pieces of this as the story goes on, but this book feels like an origin story. It writes like this is the begging of his story, the beginning of what Grimsby will be and we get to experience him grow and learn every step of the way. Not many authors are good at this kind of, pull you into, invest in the character style of writing so I commend James Butcher for this.

The story really builds and keeps you hooked once it gets going. The beginning was a little slow and it did take a few chapters to get me invested in the story, but that is understandable. This is the beginning of a series so the characters have to be developed. As fans desire more action in future books so the slow build to establish character is what we deal with in the first installment of a series.

Here is the great thing about this book. With a debut novel, you usually tend to expect something less than polished. In a debut novel authors are still finding there style and subsequent books tend toimprove as they go. This doesn’t feel like a debut novel, it reads like an established writer. Yes, there are some mistakes that an editor didn’t catch here and there, but this is a quality read.

If you watch the interview I included above, one of the things James Butcher talks about is the fact he was written a few stories previously. These were written before Dead Man’s Hand and were never published because he was just to afraid to publish them. James Butcher has already taken the time to write and find his style. He just didn’t do it in the public eye and I really appreciated that. It made this book so much more enjoyable to read.

Before I get to the wrap up and my rating, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out some of the similarities between Grimsby (James J.) and Harry Dresden (Jim Butcher). I’m sure any other fans of these books will find others but these are the biggest comparisons/Easter egg ish items.

Ok, on the the rating. If you are new here (I’m sure a lot of you are), my scale is a 1-5 rating with 1 being; I wish I never read this, to 5 being; this is my new re-read for life title. (I have a lot of those, I’m a softy. Sorry not Sorry 🤣). Since we are in a new venue, moved from Blogger to WordPress, and I moved from the Bookshelf, to the Bar, I’m going to “borrow” from a friend. She has tweeted her ratings of movies with Whiskey emojis and I love that. I will 100% mention her and the radio show she does in a future post. I’m collecting my favorite Mutant’s content so I don’t miss anything still.

I give this book 🥃🥃🥃🥃. As my favorite horror host Joe Bob would say. “Check it out”. I loved this book but it has a way to go before it is a 5 Bourbon read. That being said, I’m very excited for the second book in the series Long Past Dues. I’m trying to decide if I want to pre-order through Amazon and save some money, or pre-order through my local bookstore, where I bought this hardcover, and support them and just pay more. Loyalty can be such a strain on the wallet but small local booksellers are the best. One of the many businesses I have thought about starting is a bookstore/bar. I could tend bar and make most of the money on drinks, but then be surrounded by books and get to talk about all the books I love every day.