When former hotshot homicide detective Tom “Doc” Holliday is recruited to join Special Crimes, he trades in his boring desk job for a second chance to do what he does best, hunt down killers. And his first case doesn’t disappoint: a murdered woman with a bogus past, her body drained of blood, and two eyewitnesses wasted on the designer drug Goldjoy claiming a vampire did it.For Holliday is no … is no stranger to the unusual. He wields the Insight, a fickle clairvoyance that allows him to see the dark and terrible things that hide upon his world. After all, when you live in Empire City, where magic and technology co-exist, and humanity endures behind walls of stone and spell-forged steel, anything is possible.
Saddled with a team whose past is as checkered as his own, Holliday embarks upon an investigation that pits them against bio-engineered vampires, interdimensional parasites and the magical masterminds behind it all.
From nightclubs and skyscrapers, to underground drug labs and coffee shops, Holliday’s search for the truth will uncover a shadowy conspiracy that spans the ages, and forces him to confront a destiny he never wanted.
Bloodlines is Peter Hartog’s debut novel, the first in the Empire City Special Crimes series. Scroll up to order your copy, and start reading today!
more
Bloodlines is a futuristic murder mystery told in first person perspective from the point of view of Tom “Doc” Holliday, a coffee-loving detective:
“Java was the only religion I could get behind.”
“Doc” is named for his Ph.D in classical literature more than his resemblance to the cowboy of the same name. He quotes from Shakespeare among other classics, which was a touch that I loved. The poor guy describes himself as having “a face for radio” and comes across as a jaded version of his former self. Once one of the top detectives in Empire City, now middle-aged, Holliday has been seduced by booze and drugs and is no longer as sharp as he once was. He describes his descent from greatness as being partly caused by the death of his beloved Kate, which resulted in “a collage of excess and abuse”.
In Bloodlines Holliday has to come to terms with this past in order to fulfill his potential as a detective. He is almost a typical noir type detective, reminiscent of Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, apart from one important detail: he can use magic! He has “The Insight” an ability to see certain paranormal beings no one else can see and to relive things that have happened in the past, which is an undeniably useful crime-scene tool. Due to these unusual skills he is transferred to a department that investigates more unusual crimes, with his first case being a murder without any blood. Eye witnesses blame a vampire for killing Vanessa Mallory.
Peter Hartog must be applauded for a great variety of fully fleshed-out characters in Bloodlines, who wield wonderfully entertaining turns of phrase and distinct personalities. Holliday is assigned an alien consultant as a member of his team, one of the Vellan, who just happen to be inter-dimensional aliens with magical abilities. She is also a famous singer known as Besim Saranda who has extraordinary hearing abilities and is a quiet and insightful member of the detective team. There are musical references intertwined throughout the story which made me think that music must be important to the author. Halliday’s team also comprises Leyla, a talented young computer hacker and a magic user and Deacon Cole who is a gruff tough guy described as a confederate, who has worked with Holliday before and they have an entertaining working relationship.
In addition to the wonderful characterisations, Bloodlines is also full of solid, well-depicted world-building, showing the reader the seamier side of Empire City with its fair share of drug addicts, homeless people and ordinary folk working ordinary jobs and oh yes, aliens living amongst the humans. The world of Empire City is a post-apocalyptic version of New York City with magic, futuristic technology such as holovision and transport by pod. The world as we know it has changed following a nuclear disaster, but there are still many recognisable elements left behind.
The action in this urban science fantasy story starts fairly early on and continues at a steadily fast pace throughout the book. It is both tense and exciting and keeps you hooked right up until the end. The only reason I stopped listening halfway was because my headphones needed charging! There are plenty of red herrings and twists in the plot as well. Just when you think you can solve the mystery you realise you didn’t have all of the information you needed after all, or more likely you had been lead down the wrong path intentionally…
Bloodlines is a fantastic debut from this author and a really fun read with a few nods to ’80s culture which is something I always enjoy – I can’t wait to continue my time in Empire City by reading the sequel, Pieces of Eight.