Nekropolis: The Matt Richter Series, Book I [Paperback]

It is a strange hybrid between the Chandleresque detective novel - hard boiled ex cop goes around detecting away, accompanied by a sexy Femme Fatale. Only as our detective is a decaying zombie he cannot really take advantage of her charms. And she is no noir heroine being too nice at heart. If it was written by a Brit the characters would have been much nastier. As it is our hero and heroine are unadulteratedly nice. They never do anything bad - even though they live in the city of Nekropolis - home to all sorts of badness.

The tour of the city of Nekropolis with the various challenges faced by our plucky duo is where it feels like a role playing game - like bish bash bosh, NEXT baddie please.

Entertaining though - the author's note at the end said that more was to come after the many years since the novel was originally written - and I would be interested to see what the follow ups actually read like.

I saw this book in the shop and the cover made me pick it up. I read the blurb and knew I had to buy it. Big fan of Waggoner's now and so glad I found his work. I was getting bored of reading the same old stuff and this book just transported me to the most interest world I've read about in ages. It is so full and detailed and everything is interesting and makes you want to learn more. Got the second and it was also great. Will be getting the third and hope there's more! A must buy in my opinion.

Cities that I would like to visit in my lifetime include New York, Madrid, and Sydney. One place that will never make its way onto my list is Nekropolis the home to Tim Waggoner's handily named `Nekropolis'. Told from the point of view of Matt Richter, Zombie PI, it is as much a story of a stolen magical artefact, as it is an introduction to Nekropolis itself. The first book in a series is always hard to pull off; an author needs to introduce so many new characters and places that a reader can turn off. This is why established characters and books based in existing IPs do so well - why learn something new when you can get on with the story? Something new is worth learning, when it is as excellent as `Nekropolis'.

The Angry Robot version of Waggoner's `Nekropolis' is an extended cut of a book he produced 10 years ago. The core story is classic Private Investigator Noir; a gumshoe and femme fatale go on the hunt together. It just so happens that this well realised noir couple are in a world of monsters. Simon R Green's `Nightside' world is in many ways similar to Waggoner's Nekropolis, but whilst Green's writing is confusing, Waggoner is able to portray his world in vivid detail and make it understandable.

The central narrative is not the strongest thing in `Nekropolis' and acts as a means of introducing the world. Several locations are all touched upon and hint at exciting developments in future books. At times you feel you are on a whistle stop tour of locations, but you can forgive the author as the new characters you are introduced to are all interesting and ripe with possibilities. The character of Richter himself is a great foil for the chaos and darkness of Nekropolis; he is the reluctant White Knight. On their own, many elements of `Nekropolis' are cliché, but joined together by a talented writer like Waggoner makes them a joy. This is obviously Book 1 in what will hopefully be a long and successful series to rival the likes of Jim Butcher. I look forward to more in depth studies on different locations and characters within Nekropolis, whilst upholding the high quality writing.

Sammy Recommendation