The portrayal of the detective in Voodoo Heart is somewhat stereotypical. He drinks too much, he has unprotected sex with married women, his co-workers are grumpy, he's perpetually hungover. But, there is voodoo involved, which is a stereotype of New Orleans. So, what to think of this? It depends on what you're looking for. Some people love the noir style of detective writing. This certainly fits the kind of hard-boiled detective of the old film noir and dark mystery novels of the past, plus voodoo.

The stereotypical detective is okay if that's what you're looking for. I don't mind that too much, all though the huge amount of alcohol consumed by him and his dates started to make me feel hungover. That man's liver must look like a Brillo pad.

It was adventurous and a romp I quickly sped through. He did seem to comment on women's bodies a lot. He'd be an inch away from becoming a human sacrifice with his heart ripped out, and he'd be commenting on women's public hair and breasts and getting an erection. Who gets an erection when they're scared to death? Men were described as either skinny or fat. Women were described in graphic detail.

But, like I said, if you read this book expecting the old-fashioned hardboiled detective, plus voodoo, you won't be disappointed. You have to realize that's what you're getting with Voodoo Heart.

Graphic sex including sex with inanimate objects, a snake, and supernatural beings, copious consumption of alcohol, graphic violence and off-page domestic violence. Plus voodoo.

Thank you Netgalley and Flame Tree press for this ARC.

Maaaan, I really wanted to love this! Voodoo - good! New Orleans - good! Witches and demons and spells and snakes! - good!!! But it just didn’t come to together well for me.
My main issues, without spoiling anything; Cork had woken up a few months ago to find his wife missing, her side of the bed soaked in blood, and a human heart in the middle, but while he SAID he was heartbroken and would have her back in flash, he’s pretty quick to move on and doesn’t seem overly traumatised by this event! AND the police are treating the cases as missing persons not murder because there’s no body. Can they not DNA test the hearts??? Pretty sure if my heart is on my bed and I am not, then I am dead and I didn’t do it to myself.....
It wasn’t a bad book, just a meh book. Three stars is probably generous, it’s more of a 2.5. I just needed to believe in Cork more and he just felt like a bit of a randy jerk instead of a grieving widow Detective.

Well, what can I say about Voodoo Heart? I wanted to read it because the story takes place in New Orleans one of my favorite places in the world. There should be a classification of a book like this referring to male readers like a guy version of chicklit. It's got snakes and tattoos and sex and booze and Voodoo Queen porn. What it did not have was a properly appreciative audience in me.

I like the mystery of the storyline. I loved the setting and the Voodoo aspects. I visited New Orleans in the past so that was cool to imagine where this story was taking place. I did struggle with a few things. I didn’t connect with the MC and felt like I had a hard time understanding some of his motivations. There was also something about the writing that didn’t sit well. It was bad at all it just land well - not sure if that makes sense.