Dead Jack is a zombie private Investigator hooked on fairy dust. He lives in a world called Pandemonium where mythological creatures are real and there are very few humans. You thought your life was hard? Well Dead Jack has it harder, he's been dead for seventy years and he has to deal with Vampires, Demons, Fairies, Witches and anything else you can imagine. Pandemonium is a cross between New York City and Hell and anything goes there.

Working as a P.I. Jack has seen it all but he is about to walk into his biggest case yet. Along with his partner, a homunculus named Oswald, he is hired by the Goblin Queen to retrieve the goblin's missing cats. Sounds simple enough but that mystery leads to another problem. The Duke of Pandemonium has the cats and he is planning to use them to destroy Pandemonium and escape into our world. It's up to Jack and Oswald to go up against a group of supernatural villains to save their world.

When I look for a book to read I usually like something that mixes horror, comedy and has a mythology to it. Dead Jack And The Pandemonium Device by James Aquilone has all of that and a story that feels like a comic book story. That's a compliment by the way, this book is a lot of fun. It starts off with Jack having a fight with some mad Leprechauns which leads to a car chase, leading to a conflict on a ghost pirate ship, a battle with a vicious kraken and a run in with a horny shark woman. As you can see there is never a dull moment in the world of Pandemonium.

When I was first getting into this book my thought was it's funny and creative but are we going to get a story? The answer is yes, the main focus of the book seems to be to thrill the reader and make them laugh but there is also a story that has great depth. Little by little we find out what Pandemonium really is and how the inhabitants got there. We also get hints as to why Jack is where he is and what he was in our world. I also loved hearing the Duke of Pandemonium's story, he may be insane but you almost have to feel sorry for him.. This book is written like its setting up an ongoing series and we get hints as to what future stories will have in store. A second book is due out in the near future.

If you have a love for old pulp fiction or how stories are told within a comic book series then give Dead Jack And The Pandemonium Device a try. There is also some great art included and how the story is told paints a vivid picture in your head. Most of all though this book is a wickedly funny thrill ride in a land full of surprises. ( )