Johnny Talon and the Goddess of Love and War (The Wild Rose Press)
W. B. J. Williams
This novel is possibly one of the best examples of magical realism I’ve ever read. Warning: Adult themes.
Johnny Talon is a private detective, a gumshoe, but a surreal detective. Weird things happen around him, like his car continuously changing its make, year, and model. Plus Johnny gets many of his leads from things that happen or he hears or sees in his dreams. And while a gorgeous, mysterious client sauntering into a detective’s office is cliché, that client breaking into his apartment to ask him to take on her case—in a bloodstained dress—is the first of many departures from clichés. Such dames are usually trouble; how much more so when Eve is a penniless stripper that you promised to help when you, the gumshoe, were drunk? Like most fictional P.I.s he’s a sucker for a pretty face, but not that much of a sucker.
Still, when he takes the case they not only end up being attacked by demons and thugs, but people start dying around her because somebody wants what she has, but everything she owns was stolen from her. Talon will get a percentage of its worth if he gets her stolen property back…and if they aren’t killed by whoever wants some item she owns—she’s just not sure which item or why it’s so important.
Time and physics occasionally bend around them as they go on a quest to free someone Eve loves while she slowly realizes who she is and Johnny falls hard for her. Now if they could just get rid of those pesky demons…
Fun book. Comes out February 21, 2024.
