Narrated by Gary Furlong
Note: As this is a series where the books need to be listened to in order, there will be spoilers for the previous instalment in this review.
All Souls Near and Nigh is the second book in Hailey Turner’s inventive Soulbound series, which takes place in a world very similar to our own where supernatural creatures and mythical beings exist alongside humans and the gods continue to interfere with the actions of mere mortals. And of one mere mortal in particular.
Combat mage turned federal agent Patrick Collins owes a soul debt to the goddess Persephone, who rescued him from death at the hands of his crazed father when Patrick was just eight years old. At the time he was too young to know what he was doing when she offered him escape in return for his soul, but now he’s paying that debt whenever the gods want something done in the human world and don’t want to get their hands dirty.
All Souls Near and Nigh opens a couple of months after the events of A Ferry of Bones and Gold, with Patrick being assigned a case by the PCB (Preternatural Crimes Bureau) following the discovery of the mutilated body of a teenaged werecreature, killed mid-shift and dumped in the subway after being killed elsewhere. Bite marks indicate the involvement of vampires, as does the bag of pills found by the body which Patrick recognises as Shine, a drug made partly from Vampire blood and used by some of them to enslave their human servants. Adding another piece to the puzzle is the plastic figurine of Santa Muerte also found nearby. Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte is the goddess of death according to a Mexican cult that has been gaining popularity in recent years – but why is the idol present at this particular crime scene?
Later that day, Patrick and Jono discover that there are rumours of independent (non-pack affiliated) werecreatures going missing over the last few months. But before they can do more than start thinking about the situation, Patrick is summoned by Lucien, the Master Vampire and child of Ashanti, the mother of all vampires – who is calling in the debt Patrick owes him for the part he played in Ashanti’s death. Lucien wants Patrick to help him to take over the Manhattan Night Court – and Patrick (being Patrick, and already carrying a large burden of guilt over Ashanti’s death) can’t say no.
Dead werecreatures, a turf-war between master vampires, previously unknown gods sticking their noses in where they’re not wanted… and as if all that weren’t bad enough, with the appearance of more Santa Muerte idols, it seems Patrick is being stalked by death. The poor guy just can’t catch a break!
Hailey Turner has once again produced an extremely imaginative tale, combining elements of myth and legend, police procedural, political manoeuvring, epic battles, action and romance into a fast paced and entertaining urban fantasy story. We catch up with some of the characters introduced in the first book and are introduced to some new characters as well, such as the teenaged shifter, Wade, whom Jono rescues from the club where he’s been held captive and forced to fight to the death as part of the nightly entertainment for years. And whereas the gods who featured in the first book were mostly those of Greek/Roman and Norse legend, here, we meet the Aztec gods Quetzalcoatl – who lives and works among humans as a DEA agent – and his brother Tezcatlipoca (who is in love with death in the form of Santa Muerte), and the Native American trickster god Áltsé Hashké.
Jono also has a bigger role to play this time around. An ex-pat Englishman, he’s a God pack werewolf who has been forbidden from forming a pack of his own in New York by the alphas of the God pack there. But their poor leadership drives him to take a stand on behalf of the werecreatures who are supposed to be under their protection but whom they are ignoring; he and Patrick have already formed a pack secretly, and in this story, they bring others on board, too. The connection between Jono and Patrick is building subtly and steadily, although Patrick has trouble with the concept of being part of a pack and continues to insist on going it alone on several occasions (and getting into pretty serious trouble!) I admit I wanted to hit him over the head a couple of times when he failed to heed Jono’s advice or realise that as a pack, they should stick together. He’s a prickly individual with a smart mouth who finds it difficult to trust and let others in; he’s still struggling with guilt over binding Jono’s soul to his and to accept that the feelings he has for Jono (and that Jono has for him) are real and due to more than the illegal soulbond Patrick created between them at the end of the previous book.
Gary Furlong once again delivers an impressive performance in which the numerous characters are all assigned identifiable voices that suit them according to their characteristics and personalities. He differentiates very well between a large cast, although there were one or two occasions where I wasn’t immediately able to discern the difference between a couple of minor characters (which is probably, as I’ve said before, due more to my memory of who is who than to Mr. Furlong’s acting abilities!). It wasn’t a major issue, however, as the two principals and the main supporting cast – Lucien, Quetzalcoatl, Wade, Tezcatlipoca, for instance – are all clearly distinct from one another and easy to tell apart. Mr. Furlong is skilled when it comes to accents, assigning Patrick’s boss at the PCB a fairly thick New York one, giving Lucien a smugly confident drawl with a hint of a French lilt, and performing Tezcatlipoca’s dialogue using a slight Spanish accent. He’s done his homework when it comes to the pronunciation of the names of the new gods we encounter in this story – he never trips over any of them, and the pronunciations are all consistent throughout. He continues to capture Patrick’s snarkiness well, and I especially liked his interpretation of the eighteen-year-old Wade, the perpetually hungry, light-fingered sulky problem that had taken over their couch. When one assesses narrators’ performances so frequently, it’s easy to forget sometimes that there’s a limit to what they can do with their voices, so for anyone to be able to do what Mr. Furlong does here, and give voice to such a large and varied cast, is quite something.
All Souls Near and Nigh is another cracking yarn in the Soulbond series, but I’ll warn now that it doesn’t work as a standalone, and that it’s an audiobook you really need to be paying attention to all the time or you’re in danger of missing something important! As I said in my review of A Ferry of Bones and Gold, it would be very useful to be able to have access to the glossary that appears in the print version, because there’s a pretty large cast of characters (and acronyms!) and at times I had to stop and rewind and/or look something up. But that’s a separate issue, and has no bearing on the quality of the story itself, which is innovative, superbly paced and very well written; and certainly doesn’t stop me from giving this audiobook a strong recommendation.
Note: There is one brief scene of sexual assault in this story.
Caz
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