Dead Jack and the Pandemonium Device (Dead Jack #1)

Mike Hammer and Sam Spade meet The Walking Dead and Hellboy! I know this will not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it was a hoot....a zombie Private Detective solving cases in another (Hell-like) realm. Entertaining story, loads of paranormal creatures, and plenty of undead humor. Fans of Chuck Palahniuk and Christopher Moore will enjoy themselves (minus the sex and profanity).

The first installment in the Dead Jack series is an adventurous romp through a parallel universe with an undead detective, his tiny mystical sidekick, and a large cast of quirky characters.
Aquilone works swiftly, turning a row of slapstick misadventures into a bigger plot with the whole world at stake. Now, it is, of course, a bit tiring to have the world in danger in every other novel you read, but it's not like the book itself takes the world-ending crisis too seriously. That is mostly dictated by our protagonist's perpetual state of drug high/drunkenness/endless cynicism. Jack is an abrasive bastard who doesn't seem to really be nice to anybody, especially not to his partner Oswald. The zombie PI never seems to even consider trying to diffuse a conversation, opting for a scathing remark 100% of the time. Thankfully, the side characters are either not as unpleasant or far more evil, offering a good counterbalance to Jack's bitter personality.
What strikes me about the novel is that it's very fun to read, a highly engaging and fast-paced adventure through an otherworld filled with horrors familiar and surprising. It is not, however, actually funny, or at least it wasn't to me. Sure, Jack quips a lot and so do many others, but the jokes are not memorable, the plot is far more interesting than many of the witticisms on offer. It just feels like the novel is fun but not funny, though laughs are definitely not a prerequisite to a good book.
Another strange point, though this one I definitely cannot count as a criticism, is just how violently horrifying the world of Pandemonium is. At one point, Jack happens upon a huge pit filled with dead bodies, hops in, revives and interrogates one. This is treated as a brief stop on the journey and, if you don't pause to think about it, it sure reads like one. But holy hell, our hero just saw a mass grave, which to him is not too worrying because, y'know, flesh-eating monster, but it's scary to realise that we're along for the ride with a protagonist who has very little empathy to give because hey, his world is about two steps from literal hell. (Also, he gets grossed out at the thought of a villain killing cats and, honestly, that's what really important. Nothing but respect for my cat-loving protags!)

Overall, it's a strong debut that is both fresh and easy-to-read. I'm not quite sure how something this insane and heavy on rather unusual imagery can be brought over to the big screen, but hey, we've seen stranger adaptations before.

I loved this book! Not only was it hilarious but it has some serious dresden file vibes

Dead Jack and the Pandemonium Device (Dead Jack #1) by James Aquilone was received direct from the publisher. This was one of those books that was much better than I expected, with all sorts of monsters, a sidekick being and chapter endings that ended. They ended like the old radio shows where they want you to come back next week to see what happens. if you, or someone you know loves quirky, non politically correct "horror" with a side of side aching comedy, grab this book up.

5 Stars

Dead Jack is the best zombie detective in ShadowShade, possibly all of Pandemonium. It doesn’t hurt that he’s the only one around. It also doesn’t hurt that he’ll do anything for fairy dust. No job is too big as long as the price is right, possibly right up to saving all of Pandemonium. That is, if he can survive leprechauns with a grudge, a mad bat-god, and his own ideas.

So, James Aquilone’s Dead Jack and the Pandemonium Device is kind of an odd critter of a book. I’m left feeling simultaneously like I have very little to say about it and just wanting to throw all the words possible at it. It’s a detective story with very little detective work. The protagonist is terrible but still likeable. The side characters don’t show up much but they work so well when they do. It’s pretty great.

Our protagonist, Dead Jack, is the embodiment of everything I tend to dislike about noir detective style protagonists. He’s a jerk, he can’t function without his addiction of choice, he stubbornly refuses to believe that his companions could accomplish anything without him around, he should be the worst. But it’s all played in this sort of humorous subversion of tropes way. He’s addicted to fairy dust, both for the high and as a means of suppressing his zombie hunger, and thinks about it pretty regularly. It is in fact the entire reason he takes the case, but it doesn’t become something he waxes on about for pages at a time. We’re given mentions of him wanting fairy dust or of noticing the effects of it on other characters, but it’s for the purpose of telling us about the scene or the world. Jack is terrible to his homunculus partner, Oswald, but Oswald gives as good as he gets and the story never tries to convince the reader that Jack is in the right when he’s being a jerk. That wins both the character and the writing a lot of points from me.

Tied into that, Jack seems to be the least competent character in the book. But we are seeing things from his ridiculous self-aggrandizing point of view in such a way that it’s funny rather than annoying. This is a character who actually thinks that he’s an amazing detective, but the story itself doesn’t agree so there’s a nice balance there.

There’s a lot of that actually. Dead Jack has a tragic back story somewhere along the lines, but he doesn’t seem to remember most of it. We get some bits of it that serve to rattle Jack and tease more, but nothing that takes pages at a time. The reader is sort of dropped into the middle of Pandemonium and expected to keep up. It’s a world very different from our own, but its Jack’s home so he doesn’t go much into the specific differences. That allows the reader to build their own conclusions on specifics while keeping the pace fairly quick.

Dead Jack and the Pandemonium Device is a very quick read but very tightly plotted for how short it is. There isn’t a ton of time taken to flesh out the world that isn’t also being used to move the story forward or introduce a near immediately important concept. It takes good advantage of slower scenes to set up ideas for later without grinding to a halt.

This was a really enjoyable read and I am definitely going to be looking for the next one when it comes out. Dead Jack and the Pandemonium Device gets a five out of five from me. If you enjoy off beat detective stories or just need a way to spend a couple days, it’s worth giving a shot.