Hades is an incredibly slick, well-told tale (particularly for a debut). Fox pulls the reader in immediately and the pages whir as Sydney detectives Frank Bennett and Eden Archer, a new partnership, join their colleagues are on the hunt for a dangerous serial killer. There's a great sense of the pressures of police work, the mix of personalities that can be like oil and water even as they've got a job to do as a team. And Fox does a good job giving us a taste of the Sydney setting.

It's a dark tale, that burrows into some pretty sick parts of society. Grimy is an apt word.

I can see why a lot of reviewers (and awards judges) loved it. Hades is compulsive.

The bit that fell short for me however, a touch, was the characters. In sum, all the 'heroes' are pretty unlikable, and not in a fascinating noir or anti-hero kind of way. I just couldn't quite get alongside the main characters, so I was tearing through the pages entranced by the story but feeling a little aloof emotionally. Frank Bennett might be intended to be the reader's 'in' , but he's misogynistic among other flaws, often thinking about his chances of bedding his new partner Eden. Eden and her brother Eric are charming in some ways but cold and brutal in others. They come across as sociopathic rather than being flawed souls making mistakes as they try to do the right thing in a tough job.

It's tough to put my finger on what didn't quite work: the things I note above aren't fatal and there are crime stories which work very well where those same things are present (eg Andy Sipowicz in NYPD Blue is misogynistic and prejudiced, but a brilliant compelling character, and Dexter in Jeff Lindsay's books and Joe the Carver in Paul Cleave's books are true psychopaths, but somehow work well).

I think in the end I just found myself rolling my eyes occasionally with Fox's writing or character choices, which pulled me out of the story now now and then, breaking an otherwise great ride.

Note that I'm saying all of the above with my picky reviewer's hat on.

Hades is still a very good debut, and I can see why it got plenty of acclaim. Funnily enough, I found the title character (a shambling man who runs a rubbish tip, and is a 'fixer' for local criminals) the most interesting or multi-leveled. I'm curious as to where Fox takes the characters in the Ned Kelly Award winning follow-up, Eden, and beyond. I'd definitely read more of her crime writing.

Overall, if you love fast-paced plot-boilers that delve into sick serial killers and the grimy fringes of society, textured with some shading of character and setting, then I'd highly recommend Hades.

I loved this book! The characters are brilliantly though out, although they are flawed and emotionally stunted, you cannot help but get pulled in and connect to them.

A great thriller, with a great ending.

This is a captivating book and it is set in Sydney Australia.
Hades is the Lord of the Underworld and he runs a tip in Utalla on the outskirts of Sydney. He disposes of anything for a price, including bodies. But when two little children are given to him to dispose of. But he can’t bring himself to do it. He raises the children himself.
Eden and Eric Archer are now homicide detectives in Sydney. They keep their past a secret. Eden is partnered with Frank Bennett. He likes Eden but has taken a dislike to her brother Eric.

They are on the hunt for a serial killer who has dumped bodies at the bottom of Watson’s Bay in tool boxes. So far the serial killer has not made any mistakes. But are they about too?
Frank starts to dig into Eden and Eric’s past to see if he can find the secrets they are hiding. But has he gone too far?
This book is a one that will keep you guessing and captivated throughout. You won’t want to put it down. It is a great read from the first chapter.
Having lived in Sydney I was able to identify with the places in the book. As will anyone who has lived there. It amazes me how much more you can imagine in the story when you know the local area and can picture it as you are reading.
I would recommend this book to everyone who enjoys a fantastic crime thriller.
Candice Fox has written a well plotted story line with great characters that you just want to read more about.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for this ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.

The Hades Candice Fox



A very original crime drama set in the suburbs of Sydney.

The story is spread over two time periods, with the earlier catching up too the later to combine in a frantic finale.

The earlier time period sees a young brother and sister delivered to Hades. The children’s parents have been killed in a botch burglary/kidnap attempt. Hades is an underworld fixer, a violent man who makes bodies disappear, whether he’s killed them or somebody else has and needs the body disposing of. So, when a man turns up with the kids and wants them killed and buried you would expect Hades to do just that. Wrong Hades kills the man, nurses the children, and then brings him up as his own.

In the present day, the police partner up two experienced cops whose partners have recently died. Frank Bennett lost his partner to suicide. Eden Archers partner was shot in the face when he and Eden were chasing a suspect.

Eden is a tough woman with a hard exterior, who works all hours. Frank is a bit more laid back but gets things done. In fact, he’s that good a cop he begins to wonder about his new partner and her off duty activities.

Franks life isn’t made any easier when Eden’s brother Eric, a department bully, takes a dislike to him.

The first crime the new partners are called to turns out to be a serial killer who is farming human organs.

As the begin to get embroiled in the investigation Frank starts to look deeper into Eden and Eric’s activities.

It is revealed early enough in the story that this is not a real spoiler, and it is a bit obvious even earlier, the two children that Hades adopts are the cop brother and sister Eden and Eric.

The fact that a brother and sister have been brought up by an underworld monster, in the full knowledge of who he is, what he does, and how he does it, leads to the creation of two very different cops.

Can Frank live with the people he begins to realise his new colleagues are, and can they catch the serial killer.

I hadn’t heard of Candice Fox before. She is another one of those overseas authors who, without sites like Amazon, I would never have heard of. Looking through her back catalogue there are some great sounding books, which are being uploaded onto my Kindle as I write this.

Treat yourself, you won’t be disappointed.

Pages:357
Publishers(UK): Cornerstone Digital

Antiheroes dominate this gripping thriller, the first in the Archer and Bennet series by Candice Fox, set in Sydney, Australia. Hades, like the Greek god of mythology, is the Lord of the Underworld. He owns and runs a tip in Utulla, a fixer for the criminal underbelly of Sydney, with a fearsome reputation for solving problems permanently. At the House of Hades, he rules the dead, with a home 'full of guests'. One dark night a stranger visits, destined to never leave, bringing with him two young children, a brother and sister, the fallout from an abduction gone wrong. The girl is injured, but the boy is close to death. Hades has every intention of having them killed, but instead finds himself nursing them through their injuries, and raising them as his own. His paternal love for Eden and Eric is all consuming, but as their damaged psyches cause mayhem, with Eric in particular proving to be difficult to rein in, he enrols them on Monarch University distance learning courses, under the radar, to educationally accommodate their darkness. Hades is a man with his own morality, he stipulates that their darkness should be aimed at evil, and never directed at innocents. Eric and Eden grow up to serve as homicide detectives.

Eden has lost a partner, Frank Bennet is his incoming replacement on the Sydney Homicide Squad. Frank wants to get closer to beautiful, powerful and dark Eden, but this proves to be difficult. Eric, her unnerving, edgy and slightly unhinged brother, is proving to be a menacing obstacle and Eden projects nothing but coldness. Frank, a man with his own dark past and secrets, refuses to be put off, he is desperate to know Eden's secrets, and ends up finding a list of names in Eden's wallet. A junkie manages to escape a watery grave leads the police to metal toolboxes dumped at sea. Inside are the grisly remains of numerous bodies with evidence of surgical organ removal. The police have a serial killer on their hands that explain a number of their missing person cases. In a story with a serial killer playing cat and mouse with the police, Frank gets ever closer to the darkness and danger that lies behind Eden and Eric, will he be able to survive the experience?

Candice Fox has written a blisteringly thrilling introduction to this series. Her plotting is impeccable and her prose is so compelling, that it is well nigh impossible to stop reading. Her anti heroic characters are so beautifully imagined and developed, their darkness draws you in, wanting to get closer to them. This Aussie author has joined my list for must read authors. If you enjoy the dark and the disturbing, and have a thing for antiheroes, then this novel is definitely for you. Highly recommended! Many thanks to Random House Cornerstone for an ARC.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for a review copy of Hades, the debut procedural to feature Australian detectives Eden Archer and Frank Bennett.

New partners Archer and Bennett get thrown in at the deep end, almost literally, when a junkie reports being attacked, chained to a metal toolbox and thrown overboard. When the divers go down they find 20 chests with bodies in them. The post mortem said suggest they are looking for a body harvester.

I enjoyed Hades which is a lively read with some unexpected twists. To be honest there isn't much new in the plot. Illegal organ transplant is not a new theme and it isn't really explored in any depth, it's just a hook to hang the hunt for a serial killer on. Equally the very strange Eden and her controlling brother Eric are familiar types but the mixture of these themes is well done and makes for an exciting read.

The format, multiple points of view and timelines, is not my favourite as it makes for a choppy read but it is well paced with reveals in all the right places and times. The main narrative, that of the hunt for the serial killer, Jason, is told by Frank Bennett in the first person. He is not the most appealing character initially although he finds some redeeming features later on so it is hard to identify with him. The other main narrative comes from Hades, an underworld fixer, who raises Eden and Eric and tells, in the third person, how the children came to him and how he raised them. It is fascinating if a touch incredible. Throughout the novel the reader is given snippets about the psychopathic Jason, enough to be interesting, not enough to be overwhelming.

It is obvious in the novel that Ms Fox is more interested in the Archer family dynamic than the hunt for Jason which is, in parts, rather perfunctory. Frank is an ideal protagonist in this respect as he is obviously smitten with Eden and has to battle with Eric's aggressive and rude behaviour. I never managed to work out if it was jealousy, desire to be the alpha male or the need to protect their secrets, perhaps it is all three.

Hades is a mixture of themes and styles which work well together and knit into a good if unusual read which I have no hesitation in recommending.