The book had an interesting premise, but it fell short of my expectations. The plot was middling and the characters didn't have enough depth. I found the angel/demon dynamic okay, but I never cared about Helen or Edith enough to worry about their well-being. Overall, the book was a quick, passable read.

Angels, demons, warlocks, detectives, sigils, magic, blood, and lots and lots of cigarettes. And lots of blood, but maybe not as much blood as cigarettes. But hey, it's the 1940's, everybody smoked, sapphic love had to be kept hidden, everybody wore fedoras and talked like Phillip Marlowe. There's even a character names Marlowe but she's not a Humphrey Bogart detective she's a lady, er, demon.

It's a fun book with noir detective talk and lots of smoking due to Chesterfield cigarettes and above mentioned demons.

It's a little sad, too. Moral of story: Do not sell your soul to a demon unless it's for a dire cause and having your own radio show is not a dire cause. They will get you in the end, or in ten years (whatever comes first.) Our protagonist has good cause even though she knew the end.

Seedy bars, greasy spoon diners, baby-you-know-it detective talk, sapphic love, angelic possession, even a mental hospital, fallen angels and fallen priests. There's a lot packed into this short and fast-paced novel. I had a good time reading this.

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor for allowing me to read and review this eARC of Even Though I Knew the End.

Source of book: NetGalley (thank you)
Relevant disclaimers: None
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author.

I read this by accident. Or rather, I fully intended to read it, had a little speak at the first chapter and then it was a handful of hours later, I was crying, and I’d finished it.

Even Though I Knew The End is really quite an astonishingly beautiful novella. The pain is real, but so is the love, the ending is perfect, bittersweet in all the right ways, but I also found it genuinely quite tough going in places. I say this not in criticism (I am renownedly a softie) but just in gentle warning because, while I was vaguely aware the setting was not queer-friendly, I wasn’t quite prepared for how dark this would get.

In any case, the setting is magical 1940s Chicago. Basically, what we have here is a Chandler-esque hardboiled detective story in which an exiled mystic turned PI has to track down a serial killer in order to reclaim her soul (which she sacrificed a decade ago to save her family) from a demonic femme fatale. As you might expect from that summary, the stakes are high and personal, all is not what it seems, and solving the mystery will find our heroine, Helen Brandt, embroiled not in trying to save her own future but perhaps the world as well.

There is so much I loved about this story. The setting—while necessarily sketched in terms of its magical power players—is delightful: a genuinely seedy and noir-ish city that allows the reader to revel in all the hardboiled tropes (speakeasys, underground clubs, sapphic ladies in sharps suits calling each other ‘doll’) while also not diminishing the reality of living in a world that where who you are is illegal. Plus I am always personally here for angels, demons, war in heaven type stuff. It’s such a wonderful fit for noir.

Speaking of noir, I really loved how noirish elements are woven into the story without overpowering it. From the job that is more that it seems, to the reluctant PI, to the involvement of multiple interested parties, to the grim and gritty setting, to the gruesome nature of the murders. Where it diverges, however, was that this is a book (and a heroine) full of heart. I actually kind of love Hammett but, even putting he aside the misogyny, they’re cold books: the detective may be someone who walks means street who is himself not mean, but he is usually definitely a dick. Helen, though, for all her cynical talk, is motivated almost entirely by love, specifically her on-going need to protect her family and to have more time with her partner, Edith.

And, oh my God, Helen and Edith. t’s kind of fascinating to me—from a technical relationship-writing perspective—that I was so deeply invested in them because they’re already a long-standing item by the time the book begins and not actually on page together all that much. And, yet … MY FEELINGS. There is such a depth of yearning in this book that I think I would have sold *my* soul to give Helen and Edith a chance to be together.

In terms of what didn’t work for me, I’m havering on my standard “I wish this was longer” complaint that I apparently serve to absolutely single short story or novella I read. To be honest, I think there was just enough detail in terms of the setting, and Helen and Edith’s relationship, that the length mostly contributed to the intensity of the narrative. I could personally have taken more of Helen and Edith—as in, six or seven books more—but I think that’s more about how much I loved them, not that their relationship didn’t feel fully served by the story.

The only person, for me, not fully served was probably Teddy, Helen’s brother with whom she reconciles over the course of the book. Given there’s been ten years since she was exiled from the order where Teddy has now made a success of himself, on account of the whole selling her soul business, their whole conflict-and-reconciliation felt quite rushed. Certainly, too rushed for me to care directly about Teddy’s choices in the book (although I did care indirectly in the sense that anything Helene wanted, I wanted for her). I think I just wanted to know a bit more about what was going on with him: why he would choose the order over his sister for a decade and then abruptly make a different choice.

Also people are, in general, surprisingly relaxed about being ganked out of heaven in this book.

To go back to the elements of the story I personally found difficult to read—mild spoilers to follow—there’s a section that takes Helen and her investigating companion briefly to an asylum. This is sort of standard gothic stuff, but it’s depicted with a bit more brutality, I think, than I was quite prepared for. In particular, it’s an asylum for women, and some of them specifically undergoing aversion therapy for queerness. This isn’t dwelled upon exactly, so much as noted, although Helen does recognise a woman called Harriet (Harry) from the queer bar she frequents. It’s literally a sentence or two, and I don’t think it would be fair to call it gratuitous, but it’s definitely a haunting moment, and one that I’ve felt pretty miserable about ever since reading.

I have come down on the side of understanding its inclusion here: I think it’s a bit too easy to present sneaking around in speakeasys as a glamorous, romantic part of queer history, rather than something that existed as a direct response to oppression. This scene is a reminder that there were—are still, sadly—real stakes to being queer in the world. And, ultimately, it does dovetail in admittedly dark ways with the broader themes of the book: that love, in whatever form it comes, be it divine, familiar, romantic or otherwise, is always an act of courage.

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<p>Review copy provided by the publisher. Also the author and I have been friends since Fido was a pup, as my grandmother would say.</p>
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<p>So you've got a noir 1940s Chicago setting. You've got a lesbian protagonist with a steady girlfriend she wants to move away and buy a house and settle down with--but in the meantime they go drinking and dancing in clubs that cater to the women of Chicago who love the other women of Chicago. And then you've got...arcane magic with demons and angels bargaining for the souls of humans. And it's all got a swiftly ticking time clock, because if Helen (Elena) Brandt doesn't find this arcane serial killer in three days, she'll be both dead and damned.</p>
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<p>You know. No pressure.</p>
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<p>I barely stopped reading this novella to eat supper. The characters' lies, omissions, and outright mistakes all fit their personalities achingly well and propel them toward their interlocking ending. Helen has a compelling, wry, individual voice, and the balance of introduction, action, and payoff is perfect for its length, neither a splinter of novel nor a bloated short story but wholly itself. Definitely recommended.</p>
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I quite enjoyed this book, a great combo of noir murder mystery meets love story meets magic & angels & demons. I liked the characters' simultaneous deadpan cynicism and ardent vulnerability, and the queer/historical angle was compelling. Great plot twists, I only wish it had been longer!

Read this in one sitting at the edge of my seat! AMAZING! So much was packed into this novella in terms of plot, world building, and characters! It’s a masterpiece that I’m already itching to read again and again.

Helen Brandt is a magical private eye working in 1940s Chicago. She's been hired by her wealthy client Marlowe to find the so-called White City Vampire, a serial killer who is definitely up to some horrible kind of dark magic. If she completes this job, Helen will not only have enough money to move out West with Edith, the love of her life. She will also get to spend that time with Edith. See, ten years prior, before she met Edith, Helen traded away her soul. It was for a good reason, but it means that Helen only has a few days left to live. But if she can track down the White City Vampire, she won't just get the money. She'll get back her soul. But Helen only has three days. Three days to track down a serial killer, grapple with the Brotherhood that expelled her, deal with both angels and demons with ulterior motives. All while keeping Edith, and herself, safe.

God I loved this book. My main complaint is it was too damn short. Like, really short. But how CL Polk managed to pack so much action, romance, and awesome 1940s Chicago noir detail into such a short package, I will never know. Once you read this, you'll need to read it again, even though you knew the end.

Yeah, that's right, I fit a title drop into the review. I regret nothing. NOTHING.

This was a fun and exciting read! The cover was what drew me in but the writing style was engaging and the story kept me reading. This is my first book by this author and I would definitely like to try more of their works in the future.