Review - Vicious Circle - A Felix Castor Novel

Written by Mike Carey

Published by Orbit Books

Felix Castor knows how to deal with the dead. It’s the living who piss him off…..

I read the first book in this series, The Devil You Know last year and thoroughly enjoyed it but as things tend to go it kind of slipped off my radar and that was that, until a couple of weeks ago when I was searching about for something to read at the library (preferably a proper book with no pictures – I know go figure!!!! but I do go through phases) and Vicious Circle practically jumped off the shelf at me.

The dead have been rising since the turn of the millennium and reluctant exorcist Felix Castor has finally realised that he can do some good with his special abilities. However as with all things in Felix’s life it isn’t going to be that straight forward while consulting for the Met on a gangland killing Felix also picks up his first case in months when a distraught mother and father hire him to find their kidnapped daughter. Unfortunately their daughter is already dead and this is the first of many suprises that Felix must face in his race to find the ghost of Abbie Torrington. Throw into the mix a best friend who has been possessed by a demon, a trainee exorcist who just happens to be succubus, a couple of loup garous, a rouge branch of the Catholic Church, a myriad of physical and spiritual beatings and Felix Castor is up to his neck in trouble.

You have to hand it to Mike Carey he writes good plot, the book kicks off in high gear and doesn’t let up for 500 pages. Nothing is wasted in this book every detail drives the plot forward and there are loads of genuine twists and turns throughout the book and it did manage to wrong foot me a couple of times.

Felix Castor is a great character full of dark humour and witty one liners and damn can our boy take a beating – and he frequently does. Told in the first person perspective you get to spend to lot of time with Felix through out Vicious Circle and by the end of the book you are rooting for him to pull all of the threads of the mystery together and to get the hell out of Dodge with his life and soul intact.

Final thoughts

If you’re a fan of the fantasy or horror genre I think the Felix Castor novels may be of interest to you and if you’re a fan of Carey’s comic work and you haven’t checked out these books why the hell not? However as with all good things it’s best to start at the beginning with the aforementioned book 1 The Devil You Know, which as luck would have it just happens to be brilliant as well.