Between The Lines

 Dead Set: A Novel (Unabridged)

Author: Richard Kadrey

Performed by Kate Rudd

Released: October 2013 by Harper Audio

Category: YA Fantasy/Sci-Fi

After her father’s death Zoe and her mother moved into a small apartment in a run down area of San Francisco.  It’s tough for both of them, Zoe misses her father terribly, has become withdrawn and has conversations with her dream brother, Valentine. Her mother is struggling emotionally too and is worried about finances and how they’ll cope.  

One day Zoe comes across an old record shop with a strange owner called Emmett. Emmett has a secret room where the vinyl records hold not music but the souls and lives of people who have died. Zoe’s father is there, Emmett lets her see him for a price...a lock of hair, maybe he’ll let her speak to her father for a tooth.

Zoe can’t refuse and is transported to Iphigene, the city of lost souls, ruled by Hecate and her ‘children’, creepy black dogs and scary snakes.  She’s determined to see her father again but the record shop is closed and so in desperation she follows Emmett down the sewers and back into Iphigene.

Will Zoe find what she’s looking for and will she ever find her way back...Once Hecate discovers there’s a living soul in her kingdom all hell (sorry ^_^) breaks loose.

Thoughts

A dark and menacing fantasy, quite disturbing and eerie in parts but nevertheless an intriguing story. I thought Richard Kadrey did a great job of capturing the teenage ‘voice’ of Zoe.  From her grief and confused loneliness to the desperate attempts to get to her father, she carries the story and keeps the impetus going.  

The writing is very expressive and detailed with an original storyline which begs the question, how far would you actually go to see and talk to a loved one again.

For all that, though, I didn’t really engage with the characters completely. I’m not sure if it was the narration.  I've listened to Kate Rudd before and enjoyed it but somehow this narration didn’t do it for me. Maybe in this instance, the book might have been a better choice.