A while ago, I reviewed another of Joe's books, Small Things. I loved it, so when he asked me to beta read his upcoming release, set in the Small Things universe, well, what's a dragon to do?
I jumped at the chance, a little too enthusiastically as it turns out; I gave Colin a headache.
In case you don't know what beta reading is, it's the final phase of error checking before the book is finally released. So, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the manuscript. I am intensely pedantic, even for a dragon, but the book read incredibly well.
The storyline, however, is where it's strengths lie. It gripped my by my horns and dragged me through so many twists and turns that I grew dizzy...that's quite hard to do to a dragon, by the way.
The characters, especially the ghosts, are incredibly believable, and take it from me; I know many spirits and count a few of them as close friends.
Also, Joe got the evil spirit's personality soclose to the real one, that I felt a shiver run up my ridges. I hate that guy with a passion. Ancient Indian spirits are so uptight.
The story ends with...oops. I don't think I'm going to tell you. You'll just have to read it.
In conclusion, I can thoroughly recommend this book. I've heard Colin compare it to a guy called Stephen King. I don't know who that is, but I will say that Mr DeRouen is a master storyteller.
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