Dead Man in a Ditch is the highly anticipated sequel (to me anyways) to The Last Smile in Sunder City. My love for this world is so on level with Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft.

Though I didn't give this book or even it's predecessor 5 stars, it has such a special place in my heart because I love the world so much and this is like noir investigative detective story like eh boring BUT NO. Imagine all of that in a world where there are a variety of creatures and humans who live together and magic has suddenly disappeared and all the creatures are suffering from it. It's literally the video game, The Wolf Among. The character is literally Bigby.

So one of my very very miniscule complaints about The Last Smile in Sunder city was that it had it's slower moments. Not this sequel people! After finishing this, it felt like I had read 10 books. It is one fast paced intense scene after another, after another, after another. It's absolutely insane how much Luke Arnold smushed into this book. It's unlike anything I have ever read in a book form anyways and I see myself revisiting this world often.

Dead Man in a Ditch, Luke Arnold’s second book in the Fetch Phillips Archive, is a devastating and unforgiving story about redemption and regret that will keep you wanting more. It is a story that demonstrates why a single mistake can haunt you for a lifetime.

“I tried to bite my tongue but after years of exercise it had learned to fight back.”

Fetch Phillps, the main protagonist of the story, is a complete contradiction. He is a character that makes you be both repelled by his prickly personality and penchant for self-destruction, and desire to lean in and learn more. In the previous book, The Last Smile in Sunder City, we know a bit of why Fetch, and by extension, the world is the way it is. Eight years ago, Fetch made a mistake, probably the biggest mistake in the history of humans. He betrayed magical creatures and helped humans damn up the magical current that flowed through the world. In one minute, the world went from a vibrant technicolor world full of warlocks, dragons, fairies, and demons to a drab gray where the previously magical creatures now exist perpetually paused. They are neither human nor what they used to be.

Fetch now lives with the acute regret of that moment.

His regret and self-loathing are a constant reminder that he cannot change the past; even with all the shame in the world, some things may be beyond redemption. As a reader, I am sympathetic to his plight, but some mistakes are too big ever to forget. To pass the time, Fetch works as a detective for the “magical” community. And although he will not work with humans, he does enough to survive. The story is structured as a “Sam Spade” type detective story with nods to Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. You can tell that Arnold has significantly been influenced heavily by the genre. But unlike Sam Spade, I find Fetch to be a very genuine character. His pain and possible redemption feel realistic and authentic. His pain is real, and he faces the repercussions of it every day. Whether or not Fetch successfully saves his soul is not yet seen, but I feel like the possibility that Fetch might find redemption for himself, however that plays out, brings me back to Arnold’s books. I want Fetch to figure things out and forgive himself however that may look. There might not be any significant saving of the magical races in this series, and Fetch’s cycle of redemption might be a lot quieter and less overt. It might be that he will finally decide that he has done all he could, and that will have to be enough, but I think that is a long way off.

“You still think, after everything that happened, that what you do doesn’t matter? That because you take your orders from someone else, that you’re no longer accountable for your actions? Nothing is just a job, Fetch. Especially now. Not at a time like this.”

The storyline for Dead Man in a Ditch is bleak. A man has been inexplicably murdered, and the only explanation is that magic killed him. But magic is gone, isn’t it? There are moments, particularly one near the end of the story, that were heartbreaking. The raw emotion that Fetch feels is so painful that it was difficult to read. He reaches the bottom. While the storyline starts off following the typical episodic nature of detective stories, pretty quickly, we begin to discern the broader power struggles beyond this case. There are grander ideas involved that will rip Sunder’s very fabric and bring its inhabitants to their knees.

The critical thing to remember about Arnold’s writing is that there is a small, almost intangible glimmer of hope. It flashes in the moments that Fetch has with characters. Whether it is a laugh, quiet companionship, a good meal, or a healthy horse, these moments reveal that not all is lost for Fetch. He is not irredeemable. We have to hold on to these moments for Fetch because he forgets. He wallows in the muck and mire of his past choices.

“We all burn ourselves, Fetch. It’s the best way to learn from our mistakes. It’s only when some part of you freezes that you cut the fucker off.”

My quibble with this book specifically relied solely on pacing. There was a lot of action and a lot of introspection, but it felt uneven at times. We would be catapulted in exciting moments, especially one very visceral one about unicorns, only to be halted in the next scenes with stillness and lack of action. But it was a tiny thing, and on the whole, Arnold kept you moving and interested one scene to the next.

Dead Man in a Ditch is a good book and an even better series. It isn’t a typical urban fantasy story where magical creatures are supernatural power beyond human understanding. They are broken withered things; humans broke them eight years ago. Fetch broke them. Instead of approaching the story like many urban fantasy writers do where humans are weak in the face of magical power, here, humans are almost villainous. Dead Man in a Ditch expands on the ideas of redemption and power that we got tastes of in the first book, The Last Smile in Sunder City. But goes many leagues further and brings Fetch to his knees. Only when Fetch hits absolute rock bottom can he look up and see the proverbial light.

“You’ve touched the pistol. Nobody needs to show you how to hold it or the way to make it work. It is the most elegantly designed piece of evil I have ever seen. From the moment you pick it up, you want to use it, don’t you think? It’s almost impossible not to.”

I believe that if you loved The Last Smile in Sunder City, you would be very moved by Dead Man in a Ditch. It is a worthy second installment in this series, and I can’t wait to read the next one.

Dead Man in a Ditch is the follow-up to Luke Arnold's debut novel The Last Smile in Sunder City, which was released earlier this year. Fetch Phillips is back and just as morose, guilt-ridden, and a glutton for punishment as ever. After the events of the first novel, some of the locals hope that magic may return to this fractured world, but Fetch remains unconvinced, even as the cops ask him to weigh in on their latest case where the victim appears to have been killed through magical means. As he works to unravel the confusing, contradictory elements of this murder, Fetch is drawn into a power struggle beyond imagining and the choices he makes will have grave consequences for the future of Sunder City.

“Sunder City makes a few things without fail: hunger in winter, drunks at night and trouble all year round.”

Once again, the world-building is phenomenal; we already know about the Coda from the first book, but the repercussions of its effect on magical species is explored in further detail to create morbid new storylines. The tragic fate that befell creatures like the Fae whose magic drained away, leaving cold lifeless statutes behind, was bad enough already and yet the author skilfully manages to twist the knife further and horrify the reader anew with the developments of this novel. As much as it pained me to read, I was impressed at the way the author fully mines the possibilities created by the man-made disaster that led to the broken, miserable world Fetch Phillips inhabits. It’s all too easy to have a generic event that leads to a dystopian society which merely serves as a gritty backdrop for the protagonist to perform heroics in, but the Coda is treated with the gravity it deserves and it’s fascinating to see the unexpected ways it affects people’s lives even six years on.

The writing style is as raw and grotesquely lyrical as before, capturing every grungy, tawdry detail of Sunder City and perfectly representing the cynical flawed anti-hero we are following in this series. It simultaneously engages and repulses the reader which is a remarkable feat, and I found myself bookmarking many phrases that I couldn’t help but re-read and marvel at how viscerally a couple short sentences brought this world to life.

“It smelled like an ashtray’s acid reflux. Pipes, old beer, sweaty pits and no ventilation.”

In a world without magic, it really is remarkable that Fetch’s body can take so much punishment without finally collapsing, even with his constant self-medication via painkillers and alcohol. From start to finish, Fetch goes through a gruelling routine of waking up, wandering from one fight to another before falling unconscious because the day isn’t complete without having his teeth kicked in! It does make sense to a certain extent because Fetch is depressed and suicidal, weighed under the burden of having to atone for his unforgivable betrayal, so of course he doesn’t value his personal safety. The times when he thinks he may be about to die are the most peaceful as it comes as almost a relief to him, so no wonder he recklessly careens from one person’s fist to another.

“The friendly version of Simms was getting weird. After more than a week away from home, it felt good to be back somewhere familiar: like at the end of the Detective’s steel-capped toes.”

But the character being used as a constant punching bag becomes tiresome and occasionally farcical, like when it’s meant to be humorous that his on-again, off-again ally on the police force is being nice to him and he doesn’t know how to react when the detective isn’t bashing him. It feels uncomfortable that police brutality even in this fantastical setting is treated as a running joke, and the fact that the local law enforcement go from being belligerent bullies who think nothing of casually imprisoning and torturing Fetch to the supposed heroes nobly restoring peace and order to the city in the face of violent protesters is extremely jarring and leaves an unpleasant taste in my mouth. 

The moral conflict in this book is very well-written and Fetch’s indecisiveness over what the right thing to do is compelling and perfectly in character as it stems from his guilt over breaking the world six years ago. Of course he would feel like his judgment is untrustworthy and rely on the opinions of those around him to guide his choices. And it’s to the author’s credit that the two sides of the conflict are presented so believably that I waver along with Fetch over who is owed his loyalty and support. But the tone of the penultimate clash suggesting that oppressed people are wrong for rioting and the eventual outcome with the queer villain was disappointing to me.

“The world was against me and my body was broken but I had one last thing to push me on. Hate. I’ve never found a better fuel. A man might cross an ocean for love but with enough hate, he’ll try to drink it.”

With a bleak noir setting and a trainwreck of a protagonist who means well yet puts his foot wrong every single time, this is a unique, captivating, and thrilling read. The author has a talent for wringing every last drop of dread and angst from the audience, which makes the story very rough on one’s heart, but it’s impossible to read this book without being moved. A melancholy and imaginative tale that will linger with you long after you turn the last page.

Orbit was wonderful enough to send me a review copy of Dead Man In A Ditch by Luke Arnold. It is the second book in the Fetch Phillips Archives, and you can find my review of book one in my fantasy cop throwdown here. I was going to hold off on reading Ditch because I was a little lukewarm on the first book, but the absolutely gorgeous cover got to me, and I ended up diving in earlier than expected. In a nice turn of events, Ditch is a better book than its predecessor and mostly leaped beyond my expectations.

If you read my review of the first book in the series, The Last Smile In Sunder City, you would hear me talk about a decent book that had great potential but a bad focus. Sunder tells the story of how Fetch Phillips inadvertently broke the magic in the world, hideously deforming most magical creatures and generally making life worse for everyone. The problem with the first book is it was really telling two stories – one about how Fetch broke the world in the past, and another about how his crimes related to a missing person case in the present. The divided attention of the narrative is problematic as it resulted in neither plotline feeling fully fleshed out. Splitting the reader’s attention made it harder for me to be invested in either story. Ditch lacks this problem.

With the backstory of Fetch established, Ditch is a much more present-focused book that picks up right on the tail of book one. It focuses more on how people are trying to cope after the loss of magic and how they can solve the new problems they are faced with. Fetch ends up with another case, but this time it is revolves more around how the humans (who weren’t affected physically by the loss of magic) are capitalizing on the apocalypse and showing the reader how the world is evolving. There is more of a sense of progression in Ditch, and I found myself more present and engrossed than I did with the first novel.

In particular, the cases that Fetch finds himself in charge of are more interesting and focus more on mystery elements than the tragedy of the apocalypse. Which of these foci readers prefer is likely a matter of personal preference, but I definitely enjoy a whodunit much more than wallowing in the pain of magical creatures 24/7. The one thing I wasn’t a fan of in Ditch is (mild spoilers ahead) that a portion of the book’s plot revolves around an artificer inventing guns. The book treats this as a mystery when it is pretty obvious what has happened immediately after you see the aftermath of a murder. To me, this element of the story felt a bit cliché, and I am fairly tired of reading about “what would happen if a fantasy person invented guns?”

Overall, I definitely do recommend Dead Man In A Ditch – and it was so enjoyable that it makes me want to retroactively recommend The Last Smile In Sunder City more. Ditch shows me that Arnold is going somewhere I want to go with this story, and it makes the slower set up of book one feel more worth it. Ditch was a captivating, well-paced, and exciting story that scratched my itch for mystery and intrigue. I will definitely read the next installment of the series when it comes out.

Rating: Dead Man In A Ditch – 8.0/10
-Andrew

With half of Sunder City looking for magic's return and the other half struggling to move forward, Man for Hire Fetch Phillips is stuck in the middle, until an old friend returns from the dead.

The Plot: The Question of How to Move Forward

Ever since Fetch Phillips found a vampire who somehow managed to stay young after the Coda that stripped the world of magic, people have been coming to him asking if magic is coming back. Fetch doesn't believe so, but a paying client is a paying client and he can't afford to be choosy.

His cases are simple enough: make sure a deal doesn't go south, find who murdered a wealthy Human businessman, find out what happened to an Elf's dearly departed husband, keep a strange new machine that shoots little metal pieces hidden. Simple, but they lead him deep into the bowels of the city and out to far reaches where secrets are just waiting to be found, and into the cane of an old friend.

Soon, Fetch is doing more than simply being a Man for Hire. Hired, sure, but he starts to find his way, his feet, and discovers his own cause, one that will have past and present, Humans and magic, careening towards an inevitable clash.

Where the first book, The Last Smile in Sunder City, felt more like a noir mystery, that facade quickly fell away in this book. The world has been sufficiently set up. The main character's history has been thoroughly examined. Now the real story can get going, and what a story it is!

Dead Man in a Ditch is more serious, and heavier than the first book. It's not much of a mystery or PI novel. Fetch is a Man for Hire and the series simply revolves around him. In this volume, it's possible to say the direction the series might take, but, considering how surprised I was by this book, it's impossible to say for sure what Arnold has in mind as the series progresses. While I expected more mystery couched firmly in fantasy, like the first book, this exploded into something more. It's about progress, moving forward after mourning, looking to the future while attempting to atone for sins that can't be forgiven but merely moved past, and a clash of worlds as the Humans stealthily try to sneak in and take over. But there's also the allure of the past, the idea that magic is still out there, might still come back.

As heavy as Dead Man in a Ditch is, it offers an incredible amount of food for thought. It forces the reader to look at the world and Fetch in a different light. Whatever the overarching story might be, it looks like it's taken a darker turn in this second installment, but, somehow, there's still glimmers of hope. We just have to rely on Fetch Phillips, Man for Hire.

The Characters: It's Fetch's Story

Fetch Phillips is our tired, desperate, more likable protagonist. He caused the Coda and has spent the six years since trying to atone for that. He's made a lot of enemies, and some questionable friends, but at least he's honest (unless he's trying to get some information for a case). Pain seems to be the only price he's willing to pay, but he'll gladly pay it if only it can help him set the world aright.

Fetch wasn't exactly likable in the first book. It was almost as though Arnold was pushing him to the edge of palatable. There wasn't much to redeem him, but Dead Man in a Ditch presents him in a new light, one that makes me like him a little bit more. He's as broken as everyone else, but maybe more so. His desperation is clear and might make the reader sympathetic. But he really does try, and that's almost noble.

Fetch doesn't really have a knack for making friends, but he certainly has some old friends, one of whom pops up out of nowhere and leads him deep into a revolution. But every other character, no matter how little we see of them, was interesting and fleshed out, and had some kind of story with Fetch, whether it was old, recent, or entirely new. He might not know how to make friends, but he certainly knows how to make enemies. Most of the characters managed to help paint Fetch in a stark light: he doesn't really know what he's doing, but does it anyways. He has his job, but what kind of job is it, exactly? Though I did find a number of them fascinating and important to the story, it was also impossible for me to not believe they weren't there to help show Fetch in a certain light.

The Setting: Bitterly Stark and Cold

Since Fetch works and lives in Sunder City, it is here we are returned to for this second novel. Now, it's winter and the city is bitterly cold. It's there in the shivering, the snow dusting the ground, the layers and layers of clothing everyone wears, the longing for the fires that once lit up and warmed the city. It's stark and it's sad. With magic gone, every magical creature has been hit hard and is now struggling to put their lives together. Since the first book perfectly, and at length, set up the world, Dead Man in a Ditch had the luxury of glossing back over the details and instead using stark, unapologetic language to describe the atmosphere and the desperation in the city.

It's not just the city we see, but the land surrounding it as well. Fetch's cases and questions lead him far out of the city, through forests and abandoned cities. It's wild, scary, and sad, but, without magic, everyone has been forced to find a new way of living, or a way of just coping until their untimely, too early death occurs. In my mind, it felt dark, constantly overcast, freezing cold, and just utterly abandoned. It's opener than the city, but still holds the same stark, sad truth.

Overall: A Worthy Second Installment

Overall, Dead Man in a Ditch is a worthy follow up to the first novel. It picks up where it left off, but presents the story in a different way. It was surprising to not get more of the same, the rapidly unraveling case couched in fantasy, but also refreshing. The world has undergone a massive change and this novel addresses it and provides solutions while also keeping the story open for further installments. It felt a little jumpy at first with so many different cases, but they quickly began to tie together, and then it took a great leap that spun the story a different way, though it still managed to neatly tie back together. The middle was a little slow and sometimes I just wanted Fetch and the story to just hurry up and stop wallowing, but I did enjoy the novel and look forward to what comes next.


Thank you to Angela Man at Orbit for a free e-copy. All opinions expressed are my own.
Link to post: https://thelilycafe.com/book-review-dead-man-in-a-ditch-by-luke-arnold/

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest opinion. This is the sequel to The Last Smile in Sunder City. You can find my review for that book here. Dead Man in a Ditch will be available on September 22nd.

Dead Man in a Ditch picks up pretty much right after the end of book one. I expected this series to be rather episodic, to be honest, each book being a case that Fetch Phillips finds himself caught up in. Instead, the series has a continuing story-line, back stories are explored, new characters are introduced, and surprises are revealed.

Sunder City is full of grime, violence, and a fair hint of desperation. So is Fetch Phillips. They make for an excellent match. This city is full of once-magical creatures who are struggling to get by in a post-magic world. One of the many things I loved is how author Luke Arnold explores how it would feel for a being who is mostly magic to be bereft of it. His narrative voice is fantastic. There’s a Sam Spade feel to it, although Fetch has become much more introspective than he was in book one. This evolution of character feels natural and makes perfect sense in the story.

Fetch Phillips’ latest tangle (I’d say “case,” but it gets out of hand much too quickly to qualify as one) involves magic. It shouldn’t: it’s been established that all the magic is gone. However, someone seems to have missed the memo. Fetch finds himself trying to solve a murder and figure out if- and how – the magic is actually returning.

I love how delightfully madcap this book is. Running through it is more of Fetch’s backstory, and some serious character development. We get a closer look at this new, messed up, magic-free world. I’m annoyed at the author: he had me tearing up over the fate of a unicorn. Grr! I became so invested in this book, I had to stop myself from rereading it as soon as I finished the last page.

I would say that the tone of this book is more serious than the first book, but not so much that reading it is a downer. Rather, it draws you in. The stakes are higher and the fate of many hinges on decisions made by a small few. It’s kind of messed up, actually. I’m sure Fetch would agree.

This is a fantasy like no other. It’s gritty and dark, but still has an undercurrent of hope running through it. It showcases how wonderfully broad the fantasy genre really is. I loved every moment of it. If you haven’t started this series yet, you need to make it a priority. Just go ahead and shift it right up to the top of your “to be read” pile. I guarantee you’ll love it too.