Nekropolis
By Tim Waggoner
Reviewed by Marie Green
Matt Richter is an ex-cop, nice guy and zombie who does a little work on the side to fund the upkeep on his slowly decomposing body. A Sam Spade detective novel ‘with a twist’ – Nekropolis is set in a dimension in which all the monsters, from Earth, have moved to get away from us pesky humans. We are stepped through all the key elements of a good detective novel – the dame with a problem, the hard-boiled detective with a heart of gold, a rough city that takes no prisoners, the unforgiving lords of darkness, and of course the simple little job that turns into a conspiracy to take down the whole town. We meet everyone and go everywhere in the first of a (potential) series of novels (can you hear the ca-ching from the hopeful publishers who have played vampires to death).
Waggoner writes a nice introduction to his characters, keeping you engaged as you meet a lot of minor players, but the one-off lines (very Mickey Spillane, film noir narration) don’t work to build the main characters past two-dimensions. Instead it read like a series of role-playing sessions – an overall story broken-down scene-by-scene by the Games Master; each detail described to best show-off how very clever he is and don’t forget witty – ohh – and ironic: very, very ironic. Often the writing style was pitched at a zombie audience; it could be slow, clomping and repetitive, at times beating you around the head with an idea; so it was extra annoying when characters acted like hypnotised Homer Simpsons.
The lots of very clever ideas, places and creatures and the overall plot line were engaging enough, and let’s be honest; a hell of a lot better than I could ever come up with, but… for a city set in a new dimension full of creatures so removed from humanity, it was disappointing to discover Nekropolis and its inhabitants were just the usual suspects but with skin issues.
A good no-brainer read (he he he I made a pun), skim readers will like it best, it kept me reading but I was avoiding an essay, 2.5 out of 5.