DNF - I gave it a go but just couldn’t get into it. The humour just made me cringe and I found the main character irritating.

Supernatural noir is my new favorite genre. This will appeal to fans of Jim Butcher.

Pulp fiction in the classic sense. A story designed to entertain, titillate, and provide maximum value for your reading buck.

In the dedication (to his mum) when the author references watching The Rockford Files, Kolchak: The Night Stalker and The Twilight Zone as a kid I knew I was with a kindred spirit.

It starts with James Brimstone, clad in a baby-blue tuxedo, presiding over the funeral of his former mentor - the Amazing Edgar Vance. Recently removed from something akin to indentured servitude Brimstone is now a licensed private investigator in the state of California and sole proprietor of the Odd Job Investigative Services.

Long story short Brimstone ends up chasing demons on the set of a porno film. Yeah... it's not as creepy as it sounds but it's not for the faint hearted or easily offended.

I liked it except there was too much graphic sexual content for my taste. Granted, it fits in with the general storyline - it doesn't come out of nowhere - but, for me, that type of thing just brings the overall story to a halt and ends up being skimmed over until I can get back to the "real" story.

James Brimstone is sort of like a grittier, low-rent version of Harry Dresdan. I mean that in the best possible way - James Brimstone is like the Mike Hammer to Harry Dresdan's Philip Marlowe.

***Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this title

Hex Rated is an urban fiction novel about a putz of a magician who is trying to make a go of it as a private investigator in 1970s Los Angeles. It comes across as very derivative of Jim Butcher's wonderful Dresden Files, albeit set in an earlier decade. References seemed very dated and readers who did not grow up in the 70s or who do not have much interest in the debacle of a decade that it was will probably not finish reading it.
At times, it seems like the author cannot make a decision between the gritty urban thriller, and high camp, which is to the books detriment. Perhaps future installments will be better.

An ARC of this book was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

DNF at 33%. This wasn't bad necessarily, I just lost interest. Maybe I'll come back to it one day, but I'm sorry, Mr. Brimstone, I just don't find you as charming as you find yourself.

I really wanted to like this book. Urban fantasy set in the seedy side of 70's era, Los Angeles? Yes, please. But I couldn't connect with Brimstone at all. The overuse of metaphors lost my attention page after page. Why use one, when you can use three? Well, because the reader has forgotten what you're even talking about after a whole paragraph of metaphors. I just found my attention constantly wandering and in a lunch hour where I'd typically read 70 pages, I found myself reading the same 10 pages again and again.

The novel opens with a funeral, James Brimstone's last act for his former mentor. Now he can go earn his living as a PI in early 1970's LA. But his first case drags him back into the world of magic he was striving so hard to leave. James falls for a damsel in distress, get locked out of his office, breaks into a public library for magical information, gets into more fights then Joe Fraser, loses the dame, and has the final battle at a mansion during the filming of an X-rated film. If you enjoy Simon Green twisted together with Mickey Spillaine, you will enjoy Hex-Rated!

The following DNF review was posted to Every Day Should Be Tuesday on 8/8/17:

I had to request an ARC of Hex-Rated as soon as I saw the cover. The snake, the woman tied to a post, the guy in a cheap blue suit, the font of the title…it’s a little lurid, it’s got a lot of style, everything screaming one of those cheap little paperbacks you find at the used bookstore.

Sadly, Hex-Rated just wasn’t what I thought it was going to be.

I don’t DNF many books, but I have a stack of ARCs waiting to be read, not to mention Conan pastiches. One of those books, Age of Assassins, is excellent and shared a release date. My issues with Hex-Rated are worth explaining at some length, though, and I do so below.

Hex-Rated takes place in 1970. Former magician-turned-private investigator James Brimstone gets his first client when a dame walks in (sort of). Nico is actress, ah, in the Valley who shows up with a face crisscrossed by scars and a story about a snake coming out of her co-stars mouth.

Ridler has injected a lot of political opinions into his book. I’m not opposed to that sort of thing. But it is as bound by conventions as any of aspect of storytelling.

The classics certainly do it. But they are classics because what they have to say is timeless. And Tolstoy you probably ain’t. It had better be interesting, and there really isn’t anything interesting about orthodox opinions.

The genre has a lot to do with it. Cyberpunk should be punk. Noir certainly has room for a certain worldview from its protagonist. Brimstone’s views on war and police work; his views on libertarians and Phyllis Schlafly less so. The politics certainly can’t be banal.

That isn’t necessarily fatal. But in between rolling my eyes there just isn’t that much there there. Hex-rated isn’t all that lurid, nor does it really feel like a noir. I haven’t read the noir forebears, including Spillane, but it reads more generic urban fantasy than any Noir SF or any 60s/70s paperback I’ve read. You can’t afford to slow things down for the reader if the characters and setting and mystery aren’t compelling, and unfortunately that was just the problem I had with Hex-Rated.

Just fun to read. This book is a throwback to the sleazy paperbacks(and I mean that in the kindest way) of the seventies(not the fifties as are most of these "homages"). Fun, sexy, violent and mostly tongue in cheek--read it, man, now!

Hex-Rated: A Brimstone Files Novel: 3 stars

James Brimstone is Jack of many trades: former child magician in circus, Korean veteran and now a licensed private investigator. His new life starts with his mentor's funeral and his first client Nico, the scarred beautiful actress with a tale of black magic, demons and revenge on the set of a pornographic film. With knowledge of the hidden dark magics and no money in pocket, Brimstone takes the case that takes him to places which he vowed never to visit again. 

When I started reading Brimstone felt like bombastic combo of Dan Turner (Hollywood Detective), Jake (Chinatown) and Dean (Supernatural).

Then why just 3 stars?      

I was all over this book the second James Brimstone was introduced. Sleek, charismatic and a wonderful liar - the stupendous ragged hero. Nico was introduced perfectly as the damsel in distress of a pulp. Everything was super even the needless sex and action scenes were spot on as per a pulp. The LA setup is wonderful and tasty, the mystery is intriguing and the book is full of magical action. With 'sexy' written all over and weird magic gluing all together, I had set my mind to the extreme gear of ppppulp novels. But then I realized how flat the characters are. Generally, characters of pulps are written a bit 'over-the-top' which compliments the book and fits like a jigsaw. Hex-rated has characters which are transparent and have good and bad written on their forehead as soon as they are introduced.

All these being said, I still loved it. Somehow  it grew upon me and the ride to the last page was very satisfying. I sincerely hope to see more of a better Brimstone.

Damn it I almost forgot: Thanks to Netgalley and the author for providing a free copy for this review.

I'm putting this one aside until I'm maybe in a better mood to try it. I'm hating the main character too much right now

Sometimes you are attracted to a book because of an author. Sometimes a publisher. Or Sometimes it’s a cover. The latter was the case with Hex Rated. I was just tentatively exploring Netgalley ( a site that lets you apply for review copies of books ) not intending to go for anything, just see how it works. Then my eyes fell on the cover for Hex Rated. I almost broke my fingers applying to review it.

SNAKES, MOVIE CAMERA, DAMES whats not to love – and fall head over heels in love with it I did.

No way the book inside I picked purely on a whim, from an author or a publisher I’d never heard of could be as good?

The book inside is even better than the cover.

I’ve never been to 1970’s L.A. I feel like I have now thanks to Ridler’s unobtrusively excellent descriptive style. He doesn’t monotonously describe every single brick, he just tells you about a wall in such a way you can see it. This guy can set a scene and environment like no ones business. This is one of the most cinematic books I’ve read. I could visualize almost everything as I read without missing a beat.

James Brimstone is a heel. We shouldn’t like him early on in the book he has almost zero redeemable features but yet we root for him and by the end of the book you love the guy, that level of character development takes a lot of skill from the author. Gives you hints of a back story and origin without hitting you over the head with it. The other characters no matter how fleeting are well fleshed out and the book is all the better for it. I particularly enjoyed the character of Nico, the way her scars are described made me actually make a little intake of breath as I read about them for the first time.

The magic described here isn’t for the faint-hearted. it’s dark and it’s dangerous. Hex Rated is not Harry Potter. Tentacles, sex acts, you name it.

On the subject of sex one of the only things that I felt was a let down in the book were the number of sex scenes. I know this is a throw back to pulp books from the era. I know some of it’s scenes are on a porn film set but apart from the first one, at the hotel near the beginning, the sex scenes just get in the way of the plot . They feel forced and unnecessary. This book has so much other titillation going on it doesn’t need them. At one point I just wanted Brimstone to put his “piece” away so I could get to the rest of the story.

Dialogue here is just great. It feels of the era, noir and pulpy but not cliched. The cadence feels right and reads as smoothly as can be. It’s also really funny. It reminded me heavily of Shane Black’s Good Guys,in setting obviously – but also style and comic timing.

There is so much back story left to explore, a great antagonist to come back and so many more cases for Brimstone to solve in 1970’s Hollywood, California. This is the first of the Brimstone Files novels and I can’t wait for the next one. Filthy, magical and dangerous Hex Rated and Jason Ridler should both definitely be on your radar.

Reading this book is like reading the old pulps of yesteryear. This is the perfect read while sitting in your garden or to take on holiday. The pace is fast and furious with great dialogue. Like a popcorn movie, but in written form. You get what you pay for- mindless fun and violence. Recommended.

Perhaps the 70s just wasn't for me?!

The concept of this book is intriguing, and should have kept me voraciously reading this book.

But it didn't.

James Brimstone is a strange fellow, I didn't love or hate him, but I also didn't connect with him, which ultimately pushed me out of the story.

<img src="http://costumerusuk.com/10717-thickbox_default/men-s-formal-white-ruffle-shirt-front-fancy-dress-party-costume-accessory.jpg" width="200" height="300" alt="man in baby blue suit">

The thing that really irked me was the writing. I found the overly descriptive prose to be tedious and took far longer to read and understand than if the book had've been written in plain English.

An example (the whole book is like this!):

Brown bags littered the gutters like the corpses of squashed rats. The air fluttered with the launching of a dozen different burger wrappers that danced in and out of traffic like kamikaze birds.

Overall, an interesting magical idea but the story tries too hard to be groovy and delved too far into kitsch realm to be entertaining.

It might appeal to those who enjoy PI stories who can stomach a hefty layer of cheesiness and a dash of magic and general mayhem. Just not my thing...

**Note: I received an electronic copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

James Brimstone doesn’t want to have anything to do with magic anymore. With the burial of his cruel mentor, all his remaining bridges to the world of hexes and demons have been burnt. He can start work as a private investigator and leave the supernatural behind him.

His first case, predictably enough, plunges him right back into it all. A actress with hideous facial scarring – scarring that tastes of magic – begs for his help. James Brimstone finds himself going up against Nazi occultists, monstrous snakes and rage-filled gladiators as he investigates the seamier side of Hollywood.

Hex-Rated is the first book in a planned urban fantasy series. It starts very much in medias res, and does lots of world-building through what’s left unexplained, but it is the first book. I checked.

I really wanted to like this book. The cover, the concept, the aesthetic – all of these are exactly my kind of thing. I love the vividness of pulp, and anything containing occult Nazis catches my interest; they’re such fun antagonists. So when I started reading Hex-Rated, I was inclined to view it very positively.

And I did find several positives. I liked the magic – it’s not as present as you’ll find in other books in the genre, and the protagonist’s distaste comes across well. Magic in Hex-Rated is strange and scary. Wizards don’t throw fire – they make perverted pacts with demons and carve sigils into living flesh. The essential elements aren’t original, but the presentation is.

I liked the setting as well. 1970s America is not something I’m very familar with, and its an unusual choice for urban fantasy. All the cultural references are slightly off from where I expect them – different songs on the radio and homeless veterans of different wars. I’m growing a little sick of urban fantasy that takes place in the early and undifferentiated 2000s. The 1970s setting of this book is both fresh and important, permeating the whole plot.

Unfortunately, I felt that the positives were outweighed by a significant negative. The issue is Brimstone himself; he’s very hard to like. In some ways he’s the standard urban fantasy protagonist – impoverished, worried about falling to the darkness, and surrounded by beautiful women. It’s a common archetype now, and it is a little hackneyed and objectionable. Normally though, the annoying parts of these characters are tempered by humility or incompetence, so the character ends up sympathetic.

Brimstone isn’t humble. He knows how good he is. He’s not particularly great at magic, but he rarely uses it – again, in this book, magic is a strange and dangerous thing. Brimstone solves most of his problems through either fighting or sex. And he’s very, very good at both of them.

I struggle to worry about a character who outclasses all of his opponents – regardless of size or magical assistance – with relative ease. Brimstone knows all the martial arts. He can disable his enemies’ limbs through the careful tapping of pressure points. He moves incredibly fast and can see in the dark. There’s little tension to the combat because he’s essentially unstoppable, and while the author does try and make situations seem desperate, it rings rather hollow – the reader has already seen how capable he is, so pretending he is in trouble doesn’t actually work.

There’s a lot of sex in the book. Quite a lot more than I was expecting. That’s fine – it’s not a problem – but some kind of earlier hint would have been nice. And once Brimstone starts having sex with people, he just doesn’t stop. By my (admittedly rough) count, he has sex with five different porn actresses only a few hours. It’s very detailed, and not really justified that well by the plot. Most importantly, it’s amazing; those of his partners who discuss it (at length) declare sex with Brimstone to be a transcendental experience. In case you were in any doubt over this, his internal monologue also repeatedly explains just how great he is in bed.

Characters must be flawed to be relatable. I don’t know about you, gentle reader, but I’m not an unstoppable god of sex and violence. If I was, I wouldn’t spend all my time congratulating myself on that fact. Brimstone’s abilities are essentially superpowers, and he’s really smug about them. He even has the gall to lecture the reader on being respectful to women, and then immediately takes advantage of a distraught victim of a brutal attack or has a threesome with two strangers just to avoid having to tell the truth.

I get that pulp is about sex and violence. I’m okay with that. But there are limits. One of those limits, it turns out, is graphically describing sex with multiple porn stars while congratulating yourself on your thrusting technique. It’s gratuitous, and not in a fun way. Brimstone comes across as arrogant and self-obsessed, which makes it hard to root for him.

I wanted to like Hex-Rated; I really did. There’s a lot to like about it – the originality, the setting; even the prose, at points, is snappy and compelling. But it’s hard to enjoy a book when the protagonist needs shaking. If you are riding in someone’s head, it needs to be a head that’s interesting to be in. Not the head of a good person, necessarily, but one who you can sympathise with. With a toned-down protagonist and less emphasis on sex, I’d have enjoyed the book a lot more. As it is, Hex-Rated is a bundle of interesting ideas let down by the overall execution.

Entertaining fantasy detective noir that belies its cover by featuring more plot and character than the somewhat lurid front page promises. I wouldn't say it'll cause Jim Butcher many sleepless nights just yet, but promise is definitely shown here.

This mystery is supposed to echo classic mysteries of the 1970s. Which ones, I am not sure since that is far past the heyday of the great pulp mysteries. While we did still have the marvelous John D. MacDonald and Travis McGee, Elmore Leonard was just then switching from westerns to his goofy thrillers. Mostly the 1970s were full of spies and Cold War thrillers.

Never the less, there is nothing wrong with setting a mystery in 1970 (two years after the Tet Offensive as stated), it helps if the writer or editorial staff actually knew anything about 1970. This book is full of anachronisms.

* Plastic trash bags were invented in 1965 and the first ones for home use were sold in late 1960s. They were not popularized till the 1980s. 1970 is too early for our hero to be using them, because he is broke and they were a luxury.
* The actress who was hired to deceive our hero is being paid $20 per hour. The minimum wage at the time was $1.65.
* Designer jeans did not exist in 1970. Calvin Klein did not introduce his jeans line, considered by the press to be the first designer jeans, were not introduced till 1983.
* Police did not use the Crown Vic(toria) NOT CROWN VICKS until much later. The CA street cops used the Plymouth Belvedere.
* The Big Mac was sold in all McDonalds from 1968, but whether our cash strapped protagonists would have shelled out for one if there happened to be a McD near them is unlikely.

While ticking all of these bloopers plus the typos ("deep friars") is fun, it makes for a bad reading experience and I quit.

I received a review copy of "Hex Rated" by Jason Ridler (Skyhorse) through NetGalley.com.