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A review by cdavidcousins
Department Zero by Paul Crilley
3.0
Harry Priest is a divorced, unmotivated, crime scene cleaner who always wanted to be a cop, but had an unfortunate incident…well, never mind. It’s a day like any other. Blood, gore, stench… it all goes with the job. But today, they get called to a scene where it looks like someone exploded in a hotel room. The cops haven’t been to the scene yet, so Harry backs off—but Jorge, the boss’s son, decides to go look around inside. When he comes out the cops show up. But they aren’t really cops. They’re with the Disposal Department for Interstitial Crime Scenes (DDICS) of the ICD—Interstitial Crime Department. In other words, they’re crime scene cleaners for inter-dimensional crimes. And a guy named Havelock Graves is in charge.
Later, it turns out that Jorge took something important from the crime scene—a marble thing with coordinates inside it for two items that can be used to awaken Cthulhu. Jorge gets murdered, Harry fights a monkey who quotes Shakespeare, manages to kill one of the DDICS guys, and then Graves comes around and recruits Harry for ICD.
And they’re off. Bouncing around dimensions, always one step behind a guy who is dead set on awakening Cthulhu and bringing about the end of all the dimensions.
Harry triumphs in the end. That’s basically it. But the writing style is funny, engaging, and the read is fast and loose.
Later, it turns out that Jorge took something important from the crime scene—a marble thing with coordinates inside it for two items that can be used to awaken Cthulhu. Jorge gets murdered, Harry fights a monkey who quotes Shakespeare, manages to kill one of the DDICS guys, and then Graves comes around and recruits Harry for ICD.
And they’re off. Bouncing around dimensions, always one step behind a guy who is dead set on awakening Cthulhu and bringing about the end of all the dimensions.
Harry triumphs in the end. That’s basically it. But the writing style is funny, engaging, and the read is fast and loose.