Atticus For The Undead by John Abramowitz: A Review

I have to admit I was a little dubious when I received a tweet from someone asking me to review their book.

“Who is this person?’ I thought, having never even spoken to him before and at that point, was not even following him (in a twitter sense, not in a stalking sense).

But on checking out John Abramowitz’s bio, I quickly saw he was a writer like me and I thought “maybe I should give this some credence, after all, maybe one day I will also asking for reviews and needing people’s support in the same way?”

But I was still dubious none-the-less, and even more so when John sent me the book to read.

Oh dear. Legal Fiction Series? My heart dropped a little. I had already told John that I don’t have much spare time to read and review and already had concerns that I wouldn’t get round to completing the task this century, but to find out it was legal fiction? Now I was worried I wouldn’t want to complete the task this century.

But thankfully the word paranormal popped up so I rolled up my imaginary sleeves and bedded myself down with my Kindle and prepared myself to struggle my way through.

Now I wouldn’t like to say that I am usually happy when someone proves me wrong, but in this case, I can honestly say that I am!

The opening chapter is always a decider for me. If you can’t catch me during the first few pages, then you’re likely to find me wandering the abyss of boredom very quickly and that usually means your book will do nothing but languish in dust-covered Hell on my bookcase, or worse…be deleted from my Kindle, nevermore to grace its hallowed library.

John caught me from the opener:

Sam Pollard took no notice of the crumpled up newspaper report of his death even as he stepped on it.

One line, which might not captivate some but the paranormal writer in me sat up straight away and was thinking “Is he dead? Is he a ghost? How can he be walking around if he is supposed to be dead?”

Soon we find out that since The Unveiling, some years before, the world is a very different place to the one we knew. Zombies, vampires, mages and other arcanes live amongst humans but it’s a world filled with mistrust, prejudice and hate and Hunter Gamble, defence attorney for arcane rights, has his work cut out for him. Police with their hands-tied, politicians intent on inflaming people’s prejudices for their own cause and the brutish methods of the Salvation Alliance are all in a day’s work for Hunter, his assistant Kirsten and newly-turned-witch Sabrina (and yes she is a teenage witch).

They take on the cases no one else wants. They fight for those who can’t help being what they are. And soon they are thrust into the spotlight of a very high profile murder case involving zombie Sam Pollard.

I found the concept really interesting, captivating, fresh and the book was an easy, enjoyable, page-turner from start to finish. I was rooting for Hunter (and Sam) every step of the way as he battled petty power games, rage-filled prejudice and a world of frustration in his efforts to win a case that looks doomed from the start.

If you want to read a paranormal story that is refreshingly…well…..human…..then this could just be the one for you.

Four out of five, John…..and it would have gotten a five if it wasn’t for the fact I would have preferred a slightly different ending, but that’s the idealist in me.

Well done and thank you for letting me read Atticus For The Undead.

Please feel free to follow John on Twitter @onthebird and check out his blog www.onthebird.blogspot.com