book journal: City of the Lost and A Darkness Absolute by Kelley Armstrong

 

A brief timeline of my relationship with Casey Duncan:

Summer 2016: I keep reading and hearing about City of the Lost, the first in a new mystery series set in Canada featuring a woman named Casey Duncan. I should read that. It sounds really good.

September 2016: Oh, right, City of the Lost. Let me check that out from the library.

October 2016: [receives an early copy of A Darkness Absolute] Wait, the second Casey Duncan novel comes out in February? I should really read City of the Lost. [reads City of the Lost.] I should really write a review of City of the Lost before I start A Darkness Absolute. [Decides the temptation to pick up A Darkness Absolute is too strong.] [Reads A Darkness Absolute.] [Tells Mr. Nomadreader to buy City of the Lost for his mom's birthday.] I should write my review of A Darkness Absolute even though it doesn't publish until February.

March 2017: It's March already? Should I just wait until the third Casey Duncan novel is out? Hmm, no word on when that will be, I'll go ahead and write about Casey.

Here's the premise: "Casey Duncan is a homicide detective with a secret: when she was in college, she killed a man. She was never caught, but he was the grandson of a mobster and she knows that someday this crime will catch up to her. Casey's best friend, Diana, is on the run from a violent, abusive ex-husband. When Diana's husband finds her, and Casey herself is attacked shortly after, Casey knows it's time for the two of them to disappear again.

Diana has heard of a town made for people like her, a town that takes in people on the run who want to shed their old lives. You must apply to live in Rockton and if you're accepted, it means walking away entirely from your old life, and living off the grid in the wilds of Canada: no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, no computers, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council's approval. As a murderer, Casey isn't a good candidate, but she has something they want: She's a homicide detective, and Rockton has just had its first real murder. She and Diana are in." In short: Casey solves murders in a dystopian reality 

The verdict: If you're been meaning to read City of the Lost, do it. If you haven't, why the hell not? Buy it from Amazon (Kindle version.) You might want to buy A Darkness Absolute (print, Kindle) while you're at it. If you're like me, you'll want to start it as soon as you finish City of the Lost.

Kelley Armstrong, you're working on #3, right? I eagerly await it.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Pages: 416 & 400 pages
Publication dates: May 3, 2016 & February 7, 2017
Source: library and publisher

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