Hard Spell
Hard Spell book cover

Hard Spell

Paperback – July 26, 2011

by
Price
$5.32
Format
Paperback
Pages
400
Publisher
Angry Robot
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0857661159
Dimensions
4.17 x 0.98 x 6.81 inches
Weight
6.7 ounces

Description

“A cool mix of cop show and creature feature. Gustainis had me at ‘meth-addicted goblins’.” - Marcus Pelegrimas, author of the Skinners series“A magical mystery tour of a murder case rife with supernatural suspects.xa0Sit down for an enchanted evening of otherworldly entertainment!” - Laura Resnick, author of Unsympathetic Magic & Vamparazzi “Hard Spell deals with hardened professionals looking for supernatural things hiding under rocks, and then dragging them out and giving them a good kicking. The cops act like real cops, the vampires act like real vampires, and the monsters aren’t messing about. The plot twists and turns like a twisty turny thing, and moves like a weasel on speed. The real things feel real, and the supernatural things feel like they might be. The prose is a joy to read, and the whole thing was more fun than is probably legal.” -xa0Simon R Green “Punchy dialogue, a fun alternate history, explosive action, and a hero whose monsters haunt him even beyond the job… Gustainis has given us a fantastic supernatural cop story that just dares you to put it down!” - Chris Marie Green, author of the Vampire Babylon and Bloodlands books“I enjoyed every page of Hard Spell . If Sam Spade and Jack Fleming were somehow melted together, you’d get Stan Markowski. I can’t wait to see what Gustainis does next.” - Lilith Saintcrow, author of Night Shift and Working for the Devil “A winning mix of urban fantasy and hard-boiled detective fiction.” - Jennifer Estep, author of the Elemental Assassin series"If you’re looking for an author who does gritty cop thriller blended with film noir accompanied by a good helping of Urban Fantasy then you really can’t do better than Justin Gustainis." -Falcata Times"I was hooked on the very first page." -Lesa's Book Critiques"Gustainis has had plenty of practice with his art, and here he shows off his exemplar writing skills in a truly entertaining novel." -Theresa Derwin, www.terror-tree.co.uk"Hard-hitting, gritty detective novel meets the paranormal in a witty and entertaining read." -www.fluidityoftime.blogspot.com" Hard Spell is hugely entertaining, enjoyable and just downright awesome." -www.walkerofworlds.com" Hard Spell is a very good read, one I recommend to fans of Urban Fantasy, paranormal, or even cop dramas." - www.booksavvybabe.com"This is definitely a book I will read over and over again!" - The Bibliophilic Book Blog"Genre mash-ups seem to be all the rage these days, and Justin Gustainis' Hard Spell is a perfect example of how to do them right." - Kate Sherrod, www.kateofmind.blogspot.com"...non-stop cop drama with a nice dose of paranormal." - Sara's Urban Fantasy Blog"This is a really fun read, and is a great start to a new urban fantasy series..." - Suzanne Johnson, author of the upcoming Royal Street " Hard Spell is a good bit of paranormal fiction that is more crime novel than paranormal one. The two elements are mixed well together, and I would certainly enjoy reading another mystery of the Occult Crimes unit in the future." -John Ottinger, www.graspingforthewind.com"Justin Gustainis has given us one of the best supernatural cop stories I’ve ever read." -www.mysterysuspence.blogspot.com"Full of suspense, drama, and magic, Gustainis has created another fine fantasy series with interesting characters and riveting mystery. With fast-paced adventure and plenty of twists, the novel was impossible to put down. This new series debut is a must-read for urban fantasy fans." -www.scifichick.com"Much to my surprise, this was a story that worked well as both an urban fantasy and as a police procedural. Take away the supernatural elements, and there is still a good detective story here, but it's the mix of the two that make this such a great read." -www.bibrary.blogspot.com"Gustainis writes with the kind of economy that you might expect in the more standard brand of hard-boiled tale, but he also has a knack for invoking the eerie menace of the supernatural – without going all florid and purple prose on the reader. He skillfully introduces the history of his world’s supernatural elements and brings together his cast of characters in a way that would make Dashiell Hammett or Robert B. Parker proud. His villain’s plan is audacious and well thought out." -Sheldon A. Wiebe, Eclipse Magazine Justin Gustainis was born in Northeast Pennsylvania in 1951. He attended college at the University of Scranton, a Jesuit university that figures prominently in several of his writings.After earning both Bachelor's and Master's degrees, he was commissioned a Lieutenant in the U. S. Army.Following military service, he held a variety of jobs, including speechwriter and professional bodyguard, before earning a Ph.D. at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.Mr. Gustainis currently lives in Plattsburgh, New York. He is a Professor of Communication at Plattsburgh State University, where he earned the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2002. The author lives in Plattsburgh, New York.

Features & Highlights

  • Stan Markowski is a Detective Sergeant on the Scranton PD's Supernatural Crimes Investigation Unit.Like the rest of America, Scranton's got an uneasy 'live and let unlive' relationship with the supernatural. But when a vamp puts the bite on an unwilling victim, or some witch casts the wrong kind of spell, that's when they call Markowski. He carries a badge. Also, a crucifix, some wooden stakes, a big vial of holy water, and a 9mm Beretta loaded with silver bullets.
  • File Under: Urban Fantasy
  • [ Dial V For Vampire
  • Forbidden Spells
  • Bite Club
  • Scranton By Night ]

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(88)
★★★★
25%
(73)
★★★
15%
(44)
★★
7%
(20)
★
23%
(67)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

Competent but uninspiring urban fantasy

In the realm of urban fantasy this is closer to a gritty police procedural, "life on the streets." In the world-of-the-book, the existence of the fantastic is public knowledge, but this knowledge has not truly transformed the world. (It's closer to the Anita Blake's universe than Harry Dresden's). Our hero is an on-the-outs police detective who has to handle a series of murders of vampires, the very monsters he despises. The characters are pretty well realized and the action is well done. There's not a whole lot new here, but it's well done.

Why only three stars? The difficulty I have with many urban fantasy novels is the reaction of the world to the existence of the supernatural. This is not a minor flaw, since a major plot point is that a relative of one characters becomes a vampire to avoid dying of a very real human illness. If vampiric immortality is such an easy choice, can you *imagine* what that would do to the world? What about the religious reaction? The all-too-human reaction to finding predators in their midst? In gritty, realistic urban fantasy the unrealistic reaction of humanity in this book just rings too hollow.
5 people found this helpful
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One of the most pleasant surprises I've encountered in a long time

As you might expect from the hard-boiled detective novel cover, not to mention his deadpan introduction, Stan Markowski, the hero of Justin Gustainis' Hard Spell, is a Detective Sergeant of the Stranton PD.

Also a crucifix, some wooden stakes, a big vial of holy water, and a 9 mm Beretta loaded with silver bullets.

What makes this such a fun story, however, is the fact that Stan is a Detective Sergeant for the Supernatural Crimes Investigation Unit. Part Joe Friday and part Agent Mulder (with a little Gil Grissom mixed in), he's the kind of man who commands immediate respect. Meanwhile, his partner, Karl Renfer (a hotshot cop with James Bond aspirations) makes a perfect foil. Their relationship borders on the clichéd, but that's intentional - the entire book 'borders' on it, but cleverly challenges every cliché it comes across.

This was just a fun story. The narrative style worked perfectly, and the dialogue was consistently strong. It's not often I pay so much attention to dialogue, but this was the kind of book I wished I could 'watch' in a serialized TV format, just so I could hear the sarcasm. The supernatural elements are handled beautifully, coming across as entirely plausible, and not at all comic or surreal. In many ways I was expecting a Men In Black kind of approach, but this is much closer to The Night Stalker - assuming, of course, that the show was filmed a few decades later, uncensored and granted the kind of budget that cable TV can command.

Much to my surprise, this was a story that worked well as both an urban fantasy and as a police procedural. Take away the supernatural elements, and there is still a good detective story here, but it's the mix of the two that make this such a great read. It's not often you come across a group of goblins, addicted to meth, who have to be apprehended for robbery . . . and even less often that you need to dial 666 to summon help from the Sacred Weapons And Tactical (SWAT) unit.

A quick read, this is also a good one - definitely one of the most pleasant surprises I've encountered in a long time. I really hope Justin continues with this world, and gives us more adventures with the Scranton PD.
4 people found this helpful
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The supernatural meets a police procedural

First person narratives can make for a brilliant novel. They bring you close to the character and make you feel part of the story. However, it all depends on how the story is told and if the characters voice is one that you want to keep hearing, and in this case I found myself drifting from this novel pretty quickly.

For me this was a disappointing urban fantasy. It's set in an alternate reality where after WWII the supernatural community was recognised after returning soldiers came back as werewolves, vampires etc and bought witches, warlocks and fairies with them. Stan Markowski is a policeman with a rather matter-of-fact approach to his job of hunting down supernatural crimes. So matter-of-fact in this case that this novel is pretty dry and like reading a report, even if it is one that holds a few surprises in the end - and it has to be said the second part of the book is better than the first half. I supposed this could best be described as a police procedural but there's no spark to the character that lifts the book up and I found this a chore to read and I know I won't be picking up another book in this series.
4 people found this helpful
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Occult Crimes Unit

I'm really giving this three & a half stars. It's not a new theme but does have a gritty reality to it.
I found the first third of the book, to be honest a bit boring. Then things started to come together & the plot quickened.
This is obviously the first in a series of the OCU and I think the next will be better paced.
The auther seemed a bit stilted in developing the characters & their backstories. I've every hope the second novel will be a lot smoother.
The plot twists, police procedure, gives a firm lived-in basis to the supernormal and paranormal events.
There are likeable & unlikeable characters, some off hand witty remarks, familiar gripes to anyones daily working life, which add to the reality of the plot.
It promises to develop into a good series, I'm looking forward to the next installment from Gustainis.
4 people found this helpful
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Absolutely terrible...

I am surprised at the high ratings this book has received so far.

To begin with, the book has no chapters... None! Just a long string of small sections strung together. It gave me the impression that the author has a very short attention span and would write for a few paragraphs then lose focus and just decide it was time for a section break.

To make make matters worse, the sections often seemed to just be random tangents that the author wanted to put into the story but couldn't do so smoothly so he would just add a new section.

Finally, I felt the author would go out of his way to be highly offensive.

I love the genre and a book has to be really bad for me not to finish reading it but this was easy to put down.

One last thing - I love Jim Butcher's writing and this is NOTHING like it.
3 people found this helpful
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A Very Different "Vampire Book"

I've read a lot of "Vampire Books" and I love a good one. This one, however, is told from a different perspective - - The Occult and Supernatural Crimes Investigation Unit in the Scranton, PA Police. I wasn't sure I would like my supernatural beings from a police perspective. However, I actually liked this book very much. I liked the main characters and there was a lot of depth in the police characters that got deeper and deeper throughout the book. I don't like to give away the story is a review so I won't. If you like supernatural beings and/or a good police story, I definitely recommend "Hard Spell". In fact, I just bought the next two books in this series!
2 people found this helpful
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Couldn't Get Into It.

I stopped reading about 1/3 through. It tries and fails to capture the old Dragnet style of detective story. I picked it up because I enjoyed Gustainis' first couple of novels but...
2 people found this helpful
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Incredible start to a new urban fantasy series!

Succinct and pithy, yet detailed. The world building, characters, and plot are first class, but it was the spare use of language that really sells the book. A better written book I've not read in a long time. Great addition to the genre.
2 people found this helpful
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Gotta love the guns, magic and

Really alot of fun to read. After reading this, I read Monster Int. All alot of fun, kept my attention
2 people found this helpful
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First book in series is good enough to want to read second book in series

Hard Spell is the first in a series, by an author for whom this is not the first time out of the gate. At first, the book begins tracing an alternative history after WWII,and it seems like it will be entering Silly Land, but then it settles down to a reasonably exciting, fast moving entry in the supernatural mystery / urban fantasy genre. The immediate difference is that the lead character is not himself a supernatural entity - he is a hard-working detective working in a special occult unit of the Scranton Police department. That was refreshing, and makes for some gritty confrontations between human and non-human players.

The book does not have conventional chapters, so you keep on reading. Like the best of these books, the author twists some conventions, and leaves others alone. He certainly sets book up for subsequent stories in this world. It must be stated that the book does lose steam towards the end, as the final confrontation is oddly a letdown. The body count is high in this one, and you do wonder why anyone would choose to live in a locality so full of murder and mayhem.

Would I read the follow up? Based on what is here, yes. The author left a tantalizing coda that leaves the reader curious.
1 people found this helpful

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