The Voodoo Killings
Ratings4
Average rating4.3
15
Ratings4
Average rating4.3
"Kristi Charish's The Voodoo Killings introduces Kincaid Strange, not your average voodoo practitioner ... For starters, she's only twenty-seven. Then there's the fact that she lives in rain-soaked Seattle, which is not exactly Haiti. And she's broke. With raising zombies outlawed throughout the continental USA, Kincaid has to eke out a living running seances for university students with more money than brains who are desperate for guitar lessons with the ghost of a Seattle grunge rocker--who happens to be Kincaid's on-again, off-again roommate. Then a stray zombie turns up outside her neighbourhood bar: Cameron Wight, an up-and-coming visual artist with no recollection of how he died or who raised him. Not only is it dangerous for Kincaid to be caught with an unauthorized zombie, she soon realizes he's tied to a spate of murders: someone is targeting the zombies and voodoo practitioners in Seattle's infamous Underground City, a paranormal hub. When the police refuse to investigate, the City's oldest and foremost zombie asks Kincaid to help. Raising ghosts and zombies is one thing, but finding a murderer? She's broke, but she's not stupid. And then she becomes the target ... As the saying goes, when it rains it pours, especially in Seattle."--
Series
2 primary booksKincaid Strange is a 2-book series with 2 primary works first released in 2016 with contributions by Kristi Charish.
Reviews with the most likes.
I'm not really much for zombies and I found myself rolling my eyes during the first chapter but then it turned into a completely unexpected pleasure as our sassy narrator is tasked with finding a voodoo-skilled murderer while simultaneously babysitting a charming but recently deceased artist. Totally fun and charming.
I recieved a free copy of this book from the publisher for review.
This was just a delightful read. Kincaid is a very archetypal urban fantasy protagonist - she's snarky and funny, barely keeping her life together in most areas, but with just enough badassery that she gets through the day. Beyond just being that archetype, though, Charish fills her with enough sass and edge that she's a lot of fun to follow on her adventure.
Beyond that, the world that Charish builds here has a lot of verisimilitude. It's a world filled with zombies and ghosts, but their motivations for being there (and for other people wanting to keep them around) ring very true - dead grunge rockers being summoned to give people guitar lessons, voodoo practitioners being asked to raise zombies to settle contract disputes - it's at the same time both very mundane and fantastical, and the tension between the two really makes the story sing.
Kincaid Strange is a practitioner in Seattle. Her job used to include raising zombies to aid the police in paranormal investigations. Until raising zombies was outlawed. Now she does seances and other blah jobs just to pay the bills. Life is one boring day after another until a newly raised zombie turns up at one of her hangouts. She can't be caught with a zombie and risk going to jail, but, she can't just leave him either. He has no memory of how or why he was turned. In her quest to help him, she uncovers a string of murders targeting practitioners. With so few left, could she be next? I loved this book! I can't wait for more!
This book is absolutely dripping with Seattle atmosphere, which as a Washingtonian “ex-pat” I absolutely appreciated. Kincaid is a definite and capable narrator, and the lore of this zombified-world is built up to include ghosts, ghouls, poltergeists, and more. It was interesting, for sure, but it did end on a bit of a cliffhanger!
