The Business Of Death: The Death Works Trilogy
Trent Jamieson
Titles
Death Most Definite
Managing Death
The Business Of Death
Blurb
(of the first book only so there are no spoilers)
Steven de Selby has a hangover. Bright lights, loud noise, and lots of exercise are the last thing he wants. But that's exactly what he gets when someone starts shooting at him.
Steven is no stranger to death-Mr. D's his boss after all-but when a dead girl saves him from sharing her fate, he finds himself on the wrong end of the barrel. His job is to guide the restless dead to the underworld but now his clients are his own colleagues, friends, and family.
Mr. D's gone missing and with no one in charge, the dead start to rise, the living are hunted, and the whole city teeters on the brink of a regional apocalypse-unless Steven can shake his hangover, not fall for the dead girl, and find out what happened to his boss- that is, Death himself.
Publisher
Orbit
ISBN
9781841498614
Rosy's scrawlings on The Business Of Death: The Death Works Trilogy
This series is quite addictive (of note, this trilogy now has a 4th book). The first book is a little rough at times but as the author's first book it reads very well. The ones that follow are only more skilled and I suspect The Memory Of Death, which I haven't yet got my hands on, will be a great follow up. The Death Works Trilogy begins with a shooting in the middle of Brisbane city and descends into chaos and carnage from there. There are two rather unusual things about this. One is that the setting is Brisbane, Australia for a fantasy horror story (Australia isn't the first pick usually for being so sunny and open and lacking in an abundance of haunted houses). The other is that there's a shooting as those have become rather a lot rarer in Australia. So, right from the outset there's enough to have me, an Aussie, interested in seeing how it will all turn out. And this particular read turned out to be fun.
This trilogy is about Steven's rise within the industry of Death, starting from lazy and head in the sand Grim Reaper. Steven is an odd hero, neither the anti-hero or the proactive hero we're used to. He's a man who'd rather live with his feet up than act but yet is propelled by circumstance to get his veritable shit together and fight the good fight. Which he does, after his other options are cut off. Still, he remains a simple character without much ambition other than to protect those he cares about and do what he must to survive. Unfortunately for him, what he must do is rather demanding of him. Along the way he finds the love of his life, which only adds to his troubles as she's rather out of his grasp to begin with and in danger as much as he (if not more so).
The writing of this trilogy starts out good, a little rough at times but nothing to break the flow, and gets better as the author gains experience and confidence. Just as the plot becomes established and increasingly complex, the writing settles in style. I found the first book the sparsest for detail and character but the subsequent ones fully realised. That said, the story is addictive from the very beginning and a lot of fun to read.
I'd recommend this series to: those who like stories of a personified Death, grim reapers, apocalypses, ghosts and zombies. I'd also suggest it to those used to their stories being based in America or England as it makes a refreshing change.
