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Philip Lew, ex-cop, has migrated to Hades to get away from the strange, dangerous craziness endemic all over Earth. It is an artificial satellite, built as nested spheres and owned and inhabited by The Darker Society, which was organized to preserve the rights of those who have transformed themselves by virus into the monster archetypes: vampires, werewolves, zombies, etc.  Lew makes a living by installing private security systems. Things are coming together for him: he's seeing a new woman, Gina, and his buddy Percy seems somewhat genial despite his almost congenital paranoia. But Percy has popped up on someone's radar. While investigating a possible series of missing persons, Percy ends up in Security lock-up.

Our proto-detective starts to look for anything that might prove his friend's innocence and put a stop to the plans to deport Percy to Earth. He and Lester, Percy's attorney, find nothing incriminating. Then Gina asks him to help a friend find a missing fiancé. Lew finds little to go on except for a voyeur who witnessed an attack in the alley facing the building where the fiancé was last seen. The victim's description matches the missing man. Lew thinks that it is all starting to fall into place. Whatta fool...

Lisa DuMond's first novel is an armchair-clenching ride. She combines many of the elements of fantasy, horror, mystery and science fiction into a story that will make you shake your head in wonder, bring a smile to your lips, put a chuckle in your throat and bubble up a laugh from your belly. It's hard to imagine she can do this during a story of murder, serial killing and organ farms. But she does. Our tough-talking gumshoe, Philip Lew, is a fountain of wise-cracks, noxious asides and subtle innuendo -- and he keeps the reader distracted from the horrors he uncovers.

On the run, Philip and Gina steal into The Darker Society Representatives Centre. But they take a wrong turn, find a grisly collection of body parts and ghouls running amok. But ghouls are the last remaining taboo of The Darker Society. What can a governing body do? It's obvious: why not just add two more bodies (Philip and Gina) to their in-house stock, thus preserving their secret?

If you're a reader of SF Site's content, you'll recognize the author's name as one of our more prolific and long-standing contributors -- revered by some and reviled by others. I did pause in deciding whether to review this novel. But it only took me a few chapters to realize that the novel was an adventure, a puzzle, a snide distraction from the weather, all manner of fun which is sorely missing from many of the titles I read. Grab a copy; you won't find the novel's like anywhere.

Rodger has read a lot of science fiction and fantasy in forty years. He can only shake his head and say, "So many books, so little time."