Review: I Put a Spell on You by Michael Hayes

 

Genre: Hard-Boiled/Mystery

Description:

“Private eye, Tom Sharp, and his faithful AI assistant, Frank, investigate the death of an unlucky man hit by a bus. It looks like an accident, but the victim’s elderly mother believes her son was cursed.

It’s Los Angeles, 2055, where life is cheap, the tech is glitchy, and magic is real. The kicker: Sharp is the only one in this world immune to magic. As he’s often reminded by friend and foe alike, he’s not immune to bullets. Welcome to the Peaceable Kingdom.”

Author:

A resident of Los Angeles, Michael Hayes has a Bachelor of Music degree from Berklee College of Music. He continued his education by attending Brown University where he got a Masters Degree in Creative Writing. I Put a Spell on You is the first of two novellas Hayes has written and released, at least thus far, featuring private eye Tom Sharp that take place in the near future.

Appraisal:

This book and the world where Tom Sharp operates isn’t like today’s world, but it is close. While it might be a stretch to call it science fiction, fantasy, or the umbrella genre that includes both, speculative fiction, it definitely has aspects of them in the story. The part I’ll call fantasy is what Sharp describes as “Magic.” It is something that he, unlike most people, is immune from, but involves some people being able to put a spell of some kind on another person with various repercussions. Then we’ve got holograms popping up, my favorite being a small little thing called Frank who is Sharp’s assistant. He’s smart … make that intelligent. But it is artificial. Frank is more advanced than current AI apps, but still doesn’t’ know everything. Frank weighing in and helping Sharp certainly adds a bit of a near-future science fiction twist to the story. All of this adds some additional dimensions to what you’d normally expect from a private eye trying to solve a case. As with all good mysteries, what the private eye finds to be the answer to the mystery will keep you guessing right up to the very end. This was definitely a different read for me, but one that was a lot of fun trying to figure out not only the mystery, but the story world it happens in kept me on my toes as well.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

A small amount of adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: **** Four Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 18-19,000 words