Killer Detective by AJ Gallant

 Joe is a serial killer and proud of it. Sometimes it feels as though he is not the one calling the shots and choosing the victims, but if he isn’t doing it who else could it be? Detective Ted Miller just wants to put criminals behind bars. And when he is offered a second chance at life with a little heavenly assistance, he knows big things are in his future. With the battle for souls raging every day, a fair fight is never guaranteed. There comes a point where support becomes downright interference…

 

I was looking forward to this book. A humorous story about good versus evil sounded like a great afternoon’s reading. Unfortunately, it was not what I expected it to be. Robert Rankin’s snark and Terry Pratchett’s wit are hard to match, and while the author tried, the jokes fell flat and the whole story seemed disjointed.

 

First, there were too many characters. It seemed a waste to introduce some of them as they didn’t drive the plot forward. Second, the story was all over the place, concentrating on certain things which then fell away. Some plot lines went nowhere, some went on tangents that felt added in for padding, and throughout it was as though the author had the beginning and end, but to get it there just stuck on accessories.

 

This book was unfortunately riddled with editing errors. From basic things like punctuation issues, to characters’ names getting mixed up or misspelt, to dangling modifiers, to mixed POVs or tenses, and even incorrect chapter numbers. Some sections had extremely short sentences where things could have been described and fleshed out more, while in others, things like a pen were described like this: Xezo Handmade Natural Paua Sea Shell Abalone Ballpoint Pen.

 

The story ends with a cliffhanger and what I thought were the opening chapters of book two landed up being for a different series. What was disappointing was the writing. I hesitate to use the word childish but many scenes were written with humour that a child would find funny. Like the devil flicking boogers, or pooping, and saying things like this: “Sit the hell down,” said Beelzebub. “Get it?”

 

So while this had the essence of a good idea, it was not executed well. The unnecessary embellishments could be chopped and the main idea and characters worked on for more substance. I always rate a book by either asking if I would read it again or buy the next in the series, and unfortunately it’s a no from me on both counts. 

Two out of five quills for me..

Thanks to Reedsy Discovery and the author for the opportunity to review the book.

https://reedsy.com/discovery/book/killer-detective-a-j-gallant#review