The Unquiet Dead

This is an amazing urban fantasy debut novel by Chris Dubecki set in Toronto. It is hilarious and features a host of supernatural characters from diverse background. Our central character is Tyler Dufresne, he is 19 years old, bisexual, a pre-med student and necromancer with a terrific sense of humour laced with sarcasm. His circle of friends include his ex Cassie with her new boyfriend Juan, complex Trish, his brother Zach, Kyle, and I cannot not mention Davy Jones, his irregular cat.

At a funeral, Tyler finds himself in a mausoleum with a strange statue that has a bizarre and weird energy coming from it. It turns out Father Young knows a lot more than he is willing to admit. The mausoleum has dark forces within it and connections with a mass suicide pact in the past. It becomes clear that someone wishes to set free the trapped spirit free. It is down to Tyler and his assortment of friends to prevent this happening despite the apathy of a number of supernatural entities. We are with Tyler and his friends as he embarks on this quest and becomes better acquainted with the paranormal world.

The author has a wonderful writing style that just draws in the reader. The novel is intense, dark, funny and beautifully and intricately plotted. I found it entertaining and effortlessly engaging. I particularly liked the cast of characters. Highly recommended read. Thanks to Curiousity Quills Press for an ARC.

I loved this book's "real" flavor, its characters with flaws and hardships (and a wheelchair), and especially cat Davy! Both the friendships and the matter-of-fact magic make the story ring true. It's even made Toronto seem like a more exciting place, even though of course it is fiction....

***I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review. All of the opinions stated are solely my own and no one else’s. ***
The Unquiet Dead by Chris Dubecki is a story about a young man by the man of Tyler who is…a necromancer. He survived a nasty accident at the age of 16 to find himself with the ability to utilize the powers of death. Strange things are happening around town…first his uncle passes away…apparent suicide and then not long after his aunt passes away as well…another suicide. It seems really strange. In the graveyard where his loved ones are buried is a strange mausoleum that is not visible during the daylight…it can only be found and see in the “Pale”, a strange place that is just on the other side of the mortal world. Something is trying to break through and come to our world and it is having some help stemming from a tragedy that happened years ago. Many will die if Tyler and his friends aren’t able to keep it locked away from crossing over. There are those who are trying to help it out under the pretense of wanting to move it but what is really the truth? Will Tyler and his friends succeed or will the city they know be destroyed by this entity that wishes to cross over?
When I first started reading The Unquiet Dead it was a bit here, there and a bit scattered in my opinion. You get introduced to several characters quickly which makes the story a bit difficult to grasp because the all the different characters have their different personalities and dynamics. First we meet Tyler who is a necromancer, then we meet Cassie and her boyfriend Juan, then we are introduced briefly to Father Yeung who is the priest who oversees the church and graveyard where Tyler comes across the mausoleum. You can immediately tell that Father Yeung knows something about the strangeness that is going on but he attempts to deceive the others.
As the story goes on we begin to piece things together as strange things start happening around Tyler. He’s attacked by a strange man, then strange creatures attempt to kill him as well. Once Tyler and his friends fully understand what is going on and everything that is at stake if they fail the story really begins to gain traction and become more interesting. Tyler has a presence, a force about him that pulls other into his wake and along with him so he gains some new allies in the process. He has to get stronger if he is going to keep this thing from crossing over and destroying the city.
When I first saw this book I was really intrigued and wanted to read it. Now when I first started reading it I began to question whether I would enjoy it or not but once I got about halfway through I really got into it and started wanting to know what was going to happen next in the story. I’ll admit that I read a few reviews that had me questioning whether I’d like it but I decided to make my own judgement call on it and continued on. The story is good. There were some spots of where I would have liked to know more but overall it’s good. The author leaves us with a bit of a hint at a book two which I would be interested in reading to see where things go.
Overall this is a pretty good book and once I got into it I really enjoyed it. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Witty and gripping from the very beginning. I read the majority of this book in one sitting and then finished it in the second. A great book from Chris Dubecki.

It may have taken me quite some time get through and finish this book, but once I finished, I was left dying for more! I found Ty’s story so dark, original and just plain fascinating! I had never read a book involving necromancy or any of the things mentioned on this book and I was actually pretty surprised that I ended up loving it all! I admit that I was a little confused at the beginning with Ty’s necromancy abilities and the spectre and all that, but as the story continued and I got to understand everything that was happening, I couldn’t stop reading! I actually had to force myself to stop! This story was dark, fast-paced and full of action, mystery and intrigue! The twists were amazing and totally unexpected, and so was the ending! Looks like there are more than just necromancers, specters, chimeras, and were-cats on this side of the veil!

Now, if you ask me about the author’s writing, all I can say is that it was great! I loved how he brought Ty to life and how normal and easy it was to connect with him and understand his situation! As always, I’m not a big fan of urban fantasy, but this one was great! I loved how Toronto was big and full of dark deathly secrets around every corner. And damn that tower!

We don’t get to meet many characters through Tyler’s story, but even if they aren’t many, they all manage to make this story far more interesting, darker and gruesome. Besides Ty (our main character and favorite necromancer who owns a resurrected cat), we also get to meet Kyle (one of Ty’s best friends), Zach (Kyle’s younger brother), Casey, Juan, Trish, Father Yeung and many more I won’t mention in case of spoilers! They were all great, enjoyable, and they all had their own dark secrets (and interests)!

In the end, this was one of those books I ended up loving more than I thought I would! Everything developed perfectly, and after that amazing ending, I cannot wait for book 2 and see what happens next with Ty after all he went through (and let's not forget that little note at the end too)!

Original and unique take on the "urban fantasy" genre. I look forward to more adventures with these characters.