Graves' End - Sean Patrick Traver

   2012; 353 pages.  New Author? : Yes.  Full Title: Graves’ End: A Magical Thriller.  Genres: Paranormal Fantasy; Thriller; Pulp Fiction.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

 

    They make for an odd trio.  Tomas Delgado, aka “Black Tom” is a former necromancer.  Nowadays his specialty is entering as a spirit into cats of all sizes, from alley cat to panther.

 

    Lia is a child of the streets.  She picks locks and scrounges dumpsters for food and shelter.  She’s going to learn how to be a witch, with Black Tom as her mentor.

 

    Dexter Graves is a Hollywood detective.  Or more accurately, was one.  Sixty years ago, someone put a bullet through his skull.  He’s been dead and buried since then.  Until now.

 

    Their paths have crossed, and somebody’s noticed.  Mictlantecuhtli.  Aztec king of the Dead.  That name’s a doozy, so let’s call him Mickey Hardface.  He’s sending some of his cohorts their way.

 

    It won’t be a social call.

 

What’s To Like...

    Graves’ End is set in the greater northern Los Angeles area, primarily in the San Fernando and Hollywood neighborhoods.  That resonated with me, since I lived close to there for three summers many years ago.  The story's world is slightly paranormal.  You may encounter skeletons, witches, crouchers, archons, or a tzitzimime or two, but only on rare occasions.  And of course, there’s at least one ancient Aztec deity running around.

 

    The “present day” storyline takes place over a Halloween holiday weekend, starting on Halloween night, then on into All Saints’ Day, All Souls’ Day, and the all-important Dia de los Muertos.  There are also flashbacks to 1910, 1950, and 2000 CE, plus a brief stop in 1949 in the Epilogue.

 

    I loved the character-building.  Lia, Tom, and Dex are as diverse as a trio of protagonists can be.  The secondary characters and Mickey’s minions all have their own personality, and even the God of the Dead Himself has some redeeming qualities.

 

    You’ll learn a bunch of Spanish slang, including one or two a cuss-phrases, the oft-used “brujachica”, and the ultra-colloquial “esé”. The party-dance was way-cool, and I liked the artistic nods to Tolkien and Jackson Pollock.  I chuckled at the way palindromes and the value “pi” got worked into the storyline.

 

    The ending was suitably exciting, twisty, and heartwarming.  The climactic fight scene was appropriately epic.  Not everyone lives to fright another day (pun intended), yet all the plotlines get tied up and a new day dawns for the world outside.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Entoptic (adj.) : (of visual images) occurring or originating inside the eye.

Others: Melanistic (adj.).

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.3*/5, based on 107 ratings and 65 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.74*/5, based on 186 ratings and 25 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    Graves looked down at his own fleshless phalanges.  “I keep forgettin’ I’m not as pretty as I used to be,” he said quietly, by way of apology.

    Lia felt guilty enough about her discourtesy to a guest that she began to protest automatically, in spite of her genuine consternation.  “No, no, it isn’t that,” she said, groping for words even though she wasn’t sure what she meant to say.  The man was a walking cadaver, after all, and Miss Manners was sure to be silent on subjects like these.  No index entry for ‘undeadiquette’,’ Lia would’ve wagered.  (pg. 84).

 

    There was nowhere left for him to go.  He held up his hands to fend them off, and he got them to pause before pouncing on him, which Lia found surprising.

    “Whoa, now—” he said.  Who the hell are you two?  What happened to those other ones, Hannah and Miss Lia?”

    “You will call me Lady Night,” the nightsky outline told him.  She indicated her static-filled friend, who was standing there beside her.  “This, my sister-daughter, is Lady Madness.”

    “Sister-daughter, huh?  That must make for some weird Thanksgivings.”  (pg. 122)

 

Kindle Details…

    Graves’ End costs $2.99 at Amazon right now.  A sequel, Red Witch: The Tales of Ingrid Redstone, which I gather is actually three novellas (364 pages total), is available for $2.99 as well.  Sean Patrick Traver offers three other novellas, unrelated to this setting, one for $2.99, the other two for $0.99 apiece.

 

 “After dark, all cats are leopards.”  (pg. 293)

    The profanity in Graves’ End wasn’t excessive—I counted just 12 instances in the first 10% of the e-book, albeit two of those were f-bombs.  The smidgens of Spanish profanity came later on in the story, and at one point there’s a brief reference to a “bag of mota” which brought back memories.  I don’t recall any "adult situations".

 

    At least one reviewer was turned off by the author’s use of “big” words (such as the two listed above) and sometimes “made-up” ones (such as “nightsky” used in the second excerpt).  I noticed that too, but I thought it worked rather well.  Other reviewers thought there weren't action scenes and thrills in the early going.  Maybe so, but I thought all the aim of the storytelling was for the reader to follow the characters around in their befuddlement, trying to figure out what the heck is going on, and which gets revealed nicely in the ending.

 

    Sean Patrick Traver calls Graves’ End a Magical Thriller; Amazon calls it Paranormal & Urban Fantasy, and I’d label it Pulp Fiction.  All are equally valid.  The book kept my interest from beginning to end, and that’s what matters.  Plus I loved the attention given to Mesoamerican mythology throughout the tale.

 

    8 Stars.  One last thing.  In the “Retrospective #2” section, Sean Patrick Traver gives a vivid description of the early beginnings of Los Angeles.  I was absolutely blown away by the “feel” of his research.  Maybe someday he’ll write a full-length novel set in that place and time-period.