Jackaby

Jackaby by William Ritter is a crossroads between Supernatural, Sherlock Homes, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Jackaby is a supernatural detective, in 1892, with as many things in his home as Newt Scamander has in his suitcase. Odd ball, scatterbrained man that he is, he has a good heart and is willing to help people.

But the story is written through the eyes Abigail Rook, a newly arrived girl to the Americas who ran away from home to start her own adventures--though they have gone awry. Eager to not starve in the America's Abigail looks for a new job and finds an advertisement for an assistant of some sort. When she goes there she is instantly dragged into a murder mystery with crazy things happening. Abigail is introduced to Banshees, ghosts, and a duck who used to be human, amongst others.

Over all it is a small book, that would have been a quick read if I wasn't distracted by other things at home, and when I got to actually sit down and read it I found I really enjoyed it. I am already going to give my copy to a friend who was very excited about the mixture of three different types of stories put together.

The "beasts" we are introduced to are ones that are fairly well known, banshees, ghosts, fairies,  etc. but Jackaby gives us explanations as to why they are the way they are. Like he'd talked to a bunch of them and got their stories, which he probably had.

I like the characters because they were fun.  I could almost put every single person as a movie personality though. Such as Officer Cane reminded me of Officer Buzz McNab from Psych, so much so that McNab was who I was picturing in my mind when Officer Cane was in a scene. This could be good or bad depending on the reader's preferences.  I was able to pick a personality to most of the major characters except Abigail. While she had her likes and virtues, she didn't really have any vices or things that rounded her out as a character. She took everything in stride and believed it all so quickly, a tad unbelievable.  That was a bit disappointing. Though I was engaged enough to want to read the next few in the series which I will be doing at a future date.

Perfect Scoundrels

Perfect Scoundrels is the last in the Heist Society novels by Ally Carter and can I say that this is the perfect ending for the series. I would wish with a large portion of my heart that she would do a sequel series to this, because it was just amazing.

It starts off with Hale ditching Kat and the rest of her crew while on a heist with no explanation. Slightly irked at her boyfriend, Kat finds out that Hale's great-grandmother passed away and in her will gave everything to him. This boy of 15 (?) has now inherited his family's entire billion company. Overwhelmed by the death of his only relative whom he actually liked and liked him back as well as this new responsibility, Hale becomes distant from Kat and the rest of her family.

Then suddenly Marcus, the ever present and always watching manservant to Hale, gives Kat a job. The will that gave Hale the entire fortune is a fake. So Kat and the rest of her crew have to find the real one and the person behind it. There are sinister things hidden in all the Hale's closets and we soon find out many of them.

This book was fantastic. As I said, a perfect ending to the series. In the previous books we were given bits and pieces of Kat's whole family, and there are a lot of them. It is her biggest heist yet and needs everyone in on it. It was fun to go back and visit the London and the same museum they stole from in the first book along with other small heists throughout the story to get to the ending with the biggest con of them all.

Her characters have been consistent throughout the whole of the series, which is really good considering I've read a few where characters personalities change from chapter to chapter. While consistent, they do grow as the stories have progressed. Their are real arguments and debates on whether Kat and Hale will stay boyfriend/girlfriend. They show emotion and at one point almost had me in tears. I love the way they banter back and forth, giving amazing names to different styles of heists that they could use to accomplish their end game. They all have their own different personalities which keep the book alive.

I do wish there was more setting. I'm a sucker for a good bit of imagined setting or fun descriptions about the places they are in. But what it lacked for in setting, it made up for in a fantastic heist story that constantly had me turning pages. It lit up my very grey week with its humor and characters while still keeping it within the realm of reality.

It also weighs heavy on family. The importance of family and sticking together. Also that sometimes the best families are the ones you don't share blood with, though other times blood relations are just as amazing too.

I'd recommend this series to anyone who is looking for an upbeat, fun book.