Unholy Ghosts is an intense, gripping, well written page turner; the sort of book that you don’t actually need to take the phone off the hook to be enjoyed, that phone can ring all it likes, there is no way you will notice it once you’ve started reading!

The cover for the books in this series is a little deceptive; it certainly doesn’t allude to the very intensely written urban fantasy you’re going to find yourself immersed in. Think of Mad Max, blended with JR Wards brothers, and you might be able to picture ‘Downside’.

There is a very strong sense of realism, and somehow Stacia Kane has managed to take the unlikely elements of magic, slang, gangs, drugs, ghosts and church, and weave them all into a flowing story that just works.

Then there is the character development. Who would have thought you could develop an emotional attraction to a drug addicted, pill popping, Witch working for the ‘church’? But Ms Kane has allowed Chess Putnam to become a force to be reckoned with. Her drug addiction is a fact, but it’s not allowed to become the central part of the story, we aren’t made to feel sorry for her, or to even accept the addiction, it’s just a part of her, in much the same way that we might accept red hair in a character. There is also a lot of scope for back-story to come out. We’ve been given hints that there is more to her story, both past and future, but you’re not left at the end with huge questions.  

Our secondary characters are just as interesting. Although we don’t hear much about the ‘church’ members, we are given a brief outline, enough to be able to form snap judgements. But other characters are more developed. Although with our two rival gang heads Bump and Lex, we have a well developed but very superficial knowledge of them, and much like the back story around Chess, I think this will be a wonderful area we will become more enlightened throughout the series.

The language used in just great. We get a healthy dose of ‘downside slang’, have to try and interpret it with an Asian accent, then we get a few thous thrown in for good measure. But again, the language is woven into the story in such a way that it just works, in much the same way as different accents will accentuate characters in a movie, so the language styles help develop each characters own unique personality (and some of the drug slang is just great!).

Although this is an urban fantasy, there is a hint of developing sexual tension that blends itself into the story, even a few very lusty moments; but these are just breaks in the action, so if you’re looking for a paranormal romance, we’re not quite there in Unholy Ghosts.

I hesitate to say that this is an ‘enjoyable’ book, because there are some moments that are just graphically disturbing, but it is certainly an engrossing page-turner. It’s not a ‘dark-gritty’ urban fantasy, but it’s not at all light and fluffy either. Unholy Ghosts is a well told story and I’m delighted that there is more to come. Downside Ghosts is going to be a very addictive series.