DEAD MATTER - Anton Strout
A Simon Canderous Novel
Ace
ISBN: 978-0-441-01844-4
February 2010
Urban Fantasy

New York - The Present

Simon Canderous, a psychometrist with the Other Department in the Department of Extraordinary Affairs, and his girlfriend, Jane, a tecnomancer with the Arcane Department, are at the grocery store purchasing ingredients for their 'taco night.' Suddenly they are attacked by a huge blob creature and are barely able to drive it off. Simon laments this will only cause a mountain of paperwork at the office. His partner, Connor Christos, has taken vacation to find his lost brother. A night after the grocery debacle, Jane and Simon fight off spirits attacking a man they discover is Connor, who is obviously distraught and mentally exhausted. They find someone stalking Connor, and while following the culprit, they are led to a building where the security won't allow them entry; their search for answers leads to Jane being sucked into the building's computer system. Things just go downhill from there, leading to a possible vampire-human war in the streets of New York, a war perhaps only Simon can prevent.

Simon is a smart-alecky former miscreant, whose witty misquotes are as funny as his job is important. He helps keep the un-human elements in New York at bay. His psychometric talent lets him 'learn' the history of any item he touches. Jane's disappearance and the vampires' (who have not been seen by the DEA for almost 900 days) interest in him cause Simon a few dire situations and force on him equally horrible choices. Not having read the two previous volumes in this series, it took me a few chapters to get into the swing of things, but I was soon wrapped up in the wacky (supposedly secret) investigation team scenario as Simon tries to retrieve Jane. An unusual urban fantasy, DEAD MATTER is highly entertaining.

Robin Lee