Unholy Ghosts (Downside Ghosts, #1) (Chess Putnam, #3)

by Stacia Kane

The first book in a compelling new urban fantasy series, The Downside Ghosts.

Murderous spirits and ruthless drug dealers combine to create serious problems for fiercely independent heroine, Chess, in these fast-paced, sexy and addictive novels – fitting for a witch with a serious drug problem.

The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen and constantly attack the living. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Consequently, there are many false claims of hauntings from those hoping to profit.

Enter Chess Putnam, a fully-tattooed witch and freewheeling Debunker and ghost hunter. She's got a real talent for nailing the human liars or banishing the wicked dead. But she's keeping a dark secret from the Church: a little drug problem that's landed her in hot and dangerous water.

Chess owes a murderous drug lord named Bump a lot of money. And Bump wants immediate payback. All Chess has to do is dispatch a very nasty species of undead from an old airport. But the job involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and crossing swords with enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in lust with a rival gang leader and a dangerous attraction to Bump's ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it. Hell, yeah.

• ISBN13: 9780007352814
• Publish Date: 27 May 2010 (first published 1 January 2010)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: HarperVoyager
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 352
• Language: English
• URL: http://harpercollins.co.uk

Reviews

[celinenyx]

Chess makes an unlikely urban fantasy heroine: addicted to drugs, orphaned, and an exorcist of the totalitarian Church that has taken over the power after ghosts came back to kill the living. While Unholy Ghosts felt like an interesting departure from the stock and trade vampire/werewolf contemporary settings of other urban fantasy books, it didn't completely deliver either.

If I had to describe Unholy Ghosts in one word, it would be 'grim'. Everything from the setting, after an apocalyptic event that killed off half the world's population, to the main character's outlook is pretty damn grimy and bleak. It's a violent world, and it doesn't help that Chess routinely consorts with the underworld due to her drug addiction. For me, if a setting is dark like this, you need pinpoints of light and hope to hold on to, to keep reading. These were too far and few in between - the only minor relief if brought by a mild sexual tension with the drug dealer's enforcer, Terrible. Chess's characterisation was lacking - I am perfectly willing to read about a person's battle with their demons, but it seemed like Chess didn't actually have any. Apart from her orphanhood, there seems to be no deeper layer to her personality, no darkness that explains why she is so heavily reliant on the (largely fictional) pills she keeps popping throughout the book. Although I didn't necessarily need the story to have a redemption/recovery arc, there should be some digging into a certain trauma or foundational events. As it is, Chess is bland and uninteresting.

A lot is going on in this book: a family is being haunted, Chess becomes embroiled with a drug dealer who wants her to check out an airfield, and someone is out to kill her. Yet because Chess's drug-addled and emotionally bland state is our lens into the world, all events become rather bland themselves as well. Despite the plot chugging along, the book felt boring, and I kept putting it down to read other books instead. Witchcraft is usually my cup of tea, but not even some witchy rituals held my attention for long, because the magic system felt elusive and unsubstantiated.

Unholy Ghosts has an interesting premise and setting, but the story drags and falls into pointless bleakness.

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Trigger warnings: strong violence and gore. The main character's love interest graphically beats up someone who assaulted her. Death, ghosts, imprisonment, and a long sequence set in (claustrophobic) underground tunnels. Untreated drug addiction.

[Linda]

I think Unholy Ghosts became even better in audio version thanks to Bahni Turpin! She is the best narrator I have ever had the pleasure to listen to! She brought Chess, Terrible, Bump and Lex to life in such a spectacular way. Each time she narrated Lex, I could hear the kind of teasing smile in her voice, and if Chess was upset about something, it could be heard in her voice too.

If you are new to audiobooks, and want to try one to see how you feel about it, you should start with Unholy Ghosts! The story, of course is dark and gritty, and our main character Chess is not your typical heroine, she has huge flaws, but I love her anyway.

A full review will be posted soon on my blog, (un)Conventional Bookviews where all my reviews are originally posted.

[mitabird]

3.5 stars

[Quirky Cat]

Different, but pretty good! I loved the names for all the characters.

[Jo]

I've wanted to try a novel by Stacia Kane ever since I followed the Fangs, Fur and Fey group over on Livejournal years back. I found her posts on there just so fascinating, so my interest in her books was her rather than because they sounded like something I would enjoy (fortunately, they did sound my like my cup of tea as well). So I pulled Unholy Ghosts out of my TBR pile and got cracking. And it was brilliant!

I have to say, from the very beginning, I thought this would be a book I didn't like. Chess is a drug addict. For reasons I won't go into, I am so strongly opposed to drugs that there aren't even words. She was constantly taking various drugs, and enjoy the effect they had on her, and it made me angry. It made it very hard for me to warm to Chess, and made it very hard to read. It took me a lot longer to read than it normally takes me to read an adult urban fantasy simply for the drug taking. I just kept putting it down.

However, Chess' job and the situation she got herself into intrigued me, so I persevered with it and kept reading, and it was really good! A much darker read than I expected, taking part mostly in the dark gang ruled underworld of a world where ghosts can kill. The ghosts are only kept at bay by the Church, a dictatorial establishment that took over after people lost their belief in the government when the ghosts rose. When her drug dealer wants payment for the huge debt she's run up, he decides she can clear it by helping Banishing the ghosts from an old, unused airport he wants to reopen for his own uses. But when she stumbles on a black magic ritual and a human sacrifice on the airport grounds, she finds there's more than a Banishment on her hands.

The book almost works as a mystery as Chess tries to work out whats going on. Who did this ritual? Why? And who is the malevolent, creepy, hooded ghostly figure that seems to be following her around? It's seriously creepy, and there's so much going on! The action in the book has some physical action, but it's mostly magical, which makes it so much more suspenceful; how long does it take from deciding to swing a punch to actually make fist-to-face contact? Seconds. But to cast spells? This isn't Harry Potter, it's not simply waving a wand and uttering incantations, there's making the alter, the protection circle, the burning of the incrediants needed, things done in a precise order, and incantations said at the right time. It can take a fair few minutes, which isn't too good when some terrifying ghostie with outstretched hands and sharp pointed teeth is coming for you. It's seriously scary! Gave me the jitters!

All in all, an awesome book, and I can't wait to read the next in the series, Unholy Magic! I just know it's going to be awesome!

From Ink and Paper - fantasy review blog.

[Melanie]

I really liked this book. I was unsure about whether or not I was going to read it. I liked Stacia Kane's previous series (Personal Demons, etc.), but I did not think I would like a book about ghosts. I then read a few of the reviews from people who had ARC, and I decided to listen to them. I am really glad I read this book. It is really different from anything I have read in the past. I have already pre-ordered Unholy Magic and City of Ghosts. I am glad they are coming out pretty quick. I can't wait to get them.