Madhouse

Madhouse (2008) Rob Thurman

I’ve been eagerly awaiting Madhouse for months. I have loved the previous Cal Leandros books, and couldn’t wait to read more about Cal and Niko.

Although I enjoyed this book as much as the previous two, I was very unhappy with the last three paragraphs. In fact, I’d recommend reading the entire book (in one sitting even!) except for the last three paragraphs. Because she’s done my least favorite thing, and end with a cliffhanger.

I hate that.

Fortunately, the rest of the book was strong enough that I immensely liked the book DESPITE the ending.

Why do I like these books so well? Because there are so many things the author gets right. Cal is not a good person. He does good things, and he tries, but he has definite tendencies to be a jerk. And that actually makes me like him better, because it makes him more human. Plus, he’s totaly snarky, and that’s always fun.

The second thing that the books get right is that we constantly see Cal and Nike training–they’re good, but they’re good because they work constantly at it. Some heroes do everything perfectly, and you wonder how they manage the time to get as good as they are. With Cal and Niko we see that they train and practice constantly–almost everything they do is training and practice. And just as important, Cal talks about the prices of their weaponry, and we see the sacrifices they have made to make sure they have proper armor.

And as with the previous books, Cal makes mistakes and has to live with the consequences.

So what happens in Madhouse? Cal and Niko and Promise are hired to look into a robbery at the museum, and discover that it wasn’t a break-in, but instead a break out, and now something nasty and evil is wandering New York looking for victims.

We also get to see more of the supernatural world in New York, as Cal’s day job is tending bar at one of the establishments that caters to supernatural creatures. As to whether supernatural creatures really could live in NY without notice, I’ll leave it up to others to decide. It seems reasonable to me however.

If you like supernatural fantasy, then I highly recommend the Cal Leandros series. Although I would start with Nightlife and work your way forward. You could read Madhouse without having read the previous books, but as the characters build in successive book, I believe the series is stronger reading this books from the start.

Although this was a very good book, it loses points for the ending. So keep that in mind.
Rating: 7/10

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