FANTASY REVIEW: Low Town 1: The Straight Razor Cure - Daniel Polansky

Release Date: 18/08/11

SYNOPSIS:

Welcome to Low Town.

Here, the criminal is king. The streets are filled with the screeching of fish hags, the cries of swindled merchants, the inviting murmurs of working girls. Here, people can disappear, and the lacklustre efforts of the guard ensure they are never found.

Warden is an ex-soldier who has seen the worst men have to offer; now a narcotics dealer with a rich, bloody past and a way of inviting danger. You'd struggle to find someone with a soul as dark and troubled as his.

But then a missing child, murdered and horribly mutilated, is discovered in an alley.

And then another.

With a mind as sharp as a blade and an old but powerful friend in the city, he's the only man with a hope of finding the killer.

If the killer doesn't find him first.


REVIEW:

When you make your debut things are going to be fraught for an author and yet when a publisher puts their whole genre relaunch on a debut you know that the novel is going to be something spectacular. So when this title from Hodder landed it was a book that I was pretty interested in reading. Firstly because I love a debut and secondly because I really wanted to see what the fuss was about.

What unfurled is a title that felt reminiscent of an early David Gemmell title with a dark anti-hero leading the way dispensing justice in any manner he saw fit. It’s got a great premise, a solid arc and perhaps best of all a style that fits in well with the type of book that modern readers are seeking. Add to this decent prose and a pace that really doesn’t let up from start to finish and the reader really is in for a treat.

All in, I had a lot of fun reading this book and had a hard time putting it down, yet when you add the fact that this guy is a debut author into the mix, it is a title that shows a promising career ahead. I really can’t wait to see what the next book has in store and I hope that this hits with as much impact as this title deserves as it is a real gem and a title that I heartily recommend as one of my top five debuts of this year.