Felix Castor would make some neurologist a very happy man.
And a very rich one too.
During the course of Mike Carey's novel "Vicious Circle", Felix gets beaten into unconsciousness so often that brain damage is a likely possibility.
One can only hope that his health benefits are up to snuff.
But Carey's constant heaping of abuse on Felix and his likely misaligned gray matter goes towards a good cause: producing a well-executed and very entertaining fantasy/mystery novel.
"Vicious Circle" is very reminiscent of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series except it's much better written and has a decidedly British tone.
(I'm not British, and no amount of BBC watching will change that fact.
However I do enjoy a good cricket match occasionally).
But where Harry Dresden is a wizard, Carey's hero Felix Castor is an exorcist.
And not the type of exorcist who makes possessed little girls vomit pea soup either.
Felix is an exorcist of ghosts, calling or dispersing pesky poltergeists by playing a jaunty little tune on his tin whistle.
He's like the Pied Piper for ghosts, only sometimes in reverse.
Now granted, this idea sounds a bit silly, but Carey not only pulls it off, he excels with it.
A married couple Melanie and Steve Torrington visit Castor hoping to hire him to find their missing daughter Abbie.
Now a missing person's case isn't something you'd normally hire an exorcist for, but the Torringtons have a completely different type of problem on their hands.
Abbie is dead, and it was her ghost that had recently gone missing.
Not technically missing either, rather taken by a disreputable exorcist named Dennis Peace.
Figuring it takes an exorcist to find an exorcist (which I believe is the first law of ectoplasmdynamics), the Torringtons want Castor to track down Peace, and bring back their little girl (or at least, her ghost).
Meanwhile, the succubus Juliet who's trying her hand at being an exorcist has gotten a case at a local church that has her puzzled.
Looking for help, she calls Felix in to get his professional opinion on the situation.
It seems that something evil has taken up residence at St.
Michael's Church, and it's having a rather startling affect on the parishioners.
Juliet and Felix are only left to wonder: what is possessing the church? One thing they are sure about, it's not God.
Eventually Felix gets some information on Dennis Peace's whereabouts, but when two loup-garous show up with an equal interest in Peace and a threatening disposition towards Castor, the mystery surrounding Abbie deepens further.
So what's a poor exorcist to do? Well if you are Felix Castor you'll want to make certain your health insurance is up to date, because getting bludgeoned into unconsciousness is just around the corner.
"Vicious Circle" is filled with intriguing storylines, all seemingly disparate, which Carey masterfully pulls together at the end.
I'm usually fairly good at figuring out how everything will mesh together in the end, but Carey kept me off-balance throughout the entire novel.
He never takes the easy choice, and "Vicious Circle" benefits greatly from this approach.
The level of intricacy in the story is impressive and the plot is finely woven together.
Extremely vivid characterizations bring the story to life, and characters dissembling their true motives keep the reader guessing into the very end, just the thing I look for in a mystery.
Like most embattled detectives, Felix finds himself stuck between multiple conflicting factions, battered like a leaf in a river.
It's not the job that makes life tough, it's the obstacles, and Carey makes certain to run Felix through an obstacle course from hell.
Just when Felix seems to get a grip on the mystery, another complication arises and the story dashes off into a new direction.
The twists and turns are abundant and don't seem forced or manufactured.
The answers are slow in coming, but logical when they arrive.
The pacing is slower than I would have liked, but Carey packs so much into the story that he can hardly be faulted for this.
The lifeblood of a good mystery is its minor characters; the more intriguing they are the better the mystery.
Carey populates Castor's world with vibrant and engaging personalities.
Juliet and Nicky, a zombie with an extreme sense of self-preservation, shine in their roles as they help Castor in his quest to find Abbie's ghost.
The two loup-garous Po and Zucker are menacing and scary, perfect in their roles as Castor's main opposition.
All the characters have an odd nature about them; no one here would be considered normal, which is the type of group you'd expect to hang around an exorcist.
Last Word: Surely to be lumped into the urban fantasy genre, "Vicious Circle" rises above the typical fare one finds there.
Mike Carey has written a terrific mystery that just so happens to contain fantasy and horror elements.
Fans of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, in particular, will find much to enjoy here as will readers who love to curl up with a great mystery.
Carey's intricate plot and larger-than-life characters drive this well-executed novel to a very satisfying ending.
Definitely a book you'll want to keep an eye out for.