I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As with any urban fantasy story involving a wise-cracking main character who uses magic, it is inevitably compared to the Harry Dresden series by Jim Butcher – sort of like any man-eating shark story is compared to Jaws or any demon child story to Damien and Exorcist – well you get the picture. Lazarus Kerrigan deserves to stand on its own. With that being said, I do recommend this series to anyone who is a fan of the Dresden series or Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka.

There is not a lot of world building as the book starts but I was very much immediately transported to the world of Lazarus Kerrigan. Lazarus is a witty well-developed character – who besides having netherworld issues — also has the very down-to-earth concerns about money and relationships. What is interesting about Lazarus is that he is a necromancer – can talk to the dead and get power from the dead. And because the story takes place in New Orleans, voodoo is thrown into the mix – something you do not usually see in urban fantasy books.

The two law enforcement characters — Detective Emma Knight and Detective Moses Moses [yes, same name twice] are not as developed as Lazarus. Moses was a bit one note to me – but a good counterpoint to the uptight Emma Knight.

A few minor points which were a miss for me — the handling of Darius – a gang member who threatens Lazarus; the missing Lazarus’ girlfriend Odette; and the villian speech. Funny, during the villian speech – I kept thinking of the scene in Goldfinger when Bond is on the ropes —

Bond: Do you expect me to talk?

Goldfinger: No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.

— and wished the villian speech here was not so “Scooby Doo”ish. But, even with those minor quibbles, the story was solid and entertaining. I am looking forward to continuing with the series.

The narrator, Travis Baldree, was fantastic. He was able to set the mood of the book and tone of the characters from the beginning. Sometimes when male narrators do female character voices, it becomes a distraction from the story. Here, Travis was able to very deftly do all the different character voices [even the female characters] so that you immediately knew which character was speaking. I hope that Travis Baldree continues to narrate this series.