"Hard Spell" was a great introduction to "new to me" author, Justin Gustainis.Gustainis' detective, Stan Markowski, operates in a world where vampires, ghouls, trolls and werewolves are common place. Markowski's job on the Scranton Police Department's Supernatural Crimes Investigation Unit has him investigating crimes that cross into the supernatural (supe) community or often where the supe community and the human world collide. He walks a philosophical tightrope, balancing the intricacies of his personal life, his long-held beliefs and his professional experience while trying to make the streets of Scranton safe for the good guys, regardless of where they fall as a supe or non-supe.4 STARS I guess I will be in the minority here, but I didn't like this book. I finished it out of sheer stubbornness and because I kept hoping that it would have at least some redeeming qualities before THE END. Nope, at least not for me.The world shown in Hard Spell was nothing new - I have seen all this before in plenty of other books. That's not always a bad thing, a world doesn't have to be original to be compelling, it all depends on how the author presents it to the reader. That's where Hard Spell fails - the narrative is not engaging. I never drew me in and didn't make me want to explore the world further.I think the reason for this is that the characters are non-entities: they are cut-outs with no distinctive personalities. Not only did I have difficulty picturing the main protagonist in my head most of the time, but I had a hard time remember his name even by the end of the book. That just shows how big of an impression he had on me... not.The book progresses at nice pace and it's packed with action, so it's not boring to read. It's just that I didn't feel interested enough to follow where the author was leading me to.
What do You think about Hard Spell (2011)?
At first didn't really get to into it. But the ending really made up for it. Turned out pretty cool.
—Greta
It took me long enough but I finally finished it. Not too bad but not great either...
—gmacc
Some pretty foul blasphemy and really violent. Plotting and characters pretty good.
—docwho81
