Right now is a great time to get invested in the ‘new weird,’ a growing genre of fiction that could best be defined as “The Thing.” It’s whatever it wants to be, but always fresh, always new, transforming everything it touches. It’s also defined by an abject refusal of existing tropes, striving to create new terrors rather than rely on tired old vampires, zombies, and other Big Bads of dark fiction.
So too does The City by S. C. Mendes evade the typical trappings of a noir tale. While, at first, the drug-addicted male detective who can’t solve the murder and kidnapping of his wife and child (respectively) might seem like a worn out protagonist, Mendes breathes fresh life into the story by turning it around. This isn’t a detective who can’t solve one puzzle. This is a man who’s spent his whole life solving puzzles, knowing there’s one particular nut out there to crack, one that only he can solve, and became a detective simply because it seemed like the career choice that might lead him to it. Rather than resent the fact that he’s no longer on the force, he’s happy to continue on his own. The job was just a means to an obsessive end.
Max Elliot, the protagonist/anti-hero, is a character you’ll both love and loathe. Combining all the bad habits of Sherlock Holmes with the “How did I wind up in Hell again” factor of Hellblazer, this novel follows the disgruntled former-cop on his path to catch a serial killer—one who started with Elliot’s own wife.
He thinks he’s seen the worst humankind has to offer. In fact, that’s what the other police remember him for: being able to wade right into the bloodiest, most obscene crimes without even flinching away. When he enters a place known only as The City, he finds the worst things he’d ever seen were barely scratching the surface. Now, it’s time for him to go deeper. Much deeper.
A novel full of twists and turns, with very memorable characters and a storyline you couldn’t forget if you tried, The City is sure to take readers on a ride straight down to all the places they never wanted to go. I give it a high recommendation, and I’ll be on the lookout for more from this writer.
[bctt tweet=”‘Combining all the bad habits of Sherlock Holmes with the ‘How did I wind up in Hell again’ factor of Hellblazer, this novel follows the disgruntled former-cop on his path to catch a serial killer’ Reading THE CITY @TheHoltoning #fantasy” username=”theboldmom”]
