Hex Rated
Hex-Rated: A Brimstone Files Novel
Jason Ridler
July 11, 2017
9781597809030, 1597809039
Trade Paperback
$14.99 USD, $22.99 CAD, £10.99 GBP, €11.99 EUR
Fiction/Fantasy/Urban
Review
Hex-Rated is an electrifying blend of pulp noir and horror. Jack Brimstone, LA’s newest Private investigator is looking forward to leaving a life of magic behind and spending his days chasing cheating husbands and finding lost dogs. Burying his mentor means freedom from all things strange and wondrous- at least until a beautiful woman shows up after an attack by a vicious demon. Naturally Jack wants to help, besides he’s flat broke and Bee’s locked him out. A paying client is just what he needs. From nazis to porn stars, fist fights to hot sex, Hex Rated has it all.
Armed with a flash wit, the ability to take a punch and a way of leading the ladies purring in satisfaction (not to mention knowledge of the uncanny), Jack charms readers and supporting characters alike. Jason Ridler has a way of making even the most horrific moments humorous through his choice of phrasing.
I loved Hex-Rated, the first Odd Jobs novel. It is quirky, thrilling and definitely sexy. This is not a novel for teens. I simply have to say hurrah for Jason Ridler’s resurrection of pulp.
5 / 5
I received a copy of Hex-Rated from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
--Crittermom
Description
A salacious throwback to the detective pulps of the 70s, Hex-Rated kicks off the new urban fantasy series the Brimstone Files.
Fall, 1970. Los Angeles has always been a den of danger and bliss, but even darker tidings brew in the City of Angels. Cults, magic, and the supernatural are leaking into the worlds of glamour and dives of the gutter. To the spectators walking down Hollywood Blvd, it's just more proof that La La Land is over the cuckoo's nest. But to former child magician and Korean veteran turned newly-licensed private investigator James Brimstone, it means business is picking up.
After attending his mentor's funeral, Brimstone signs his first client: Nico, a beautiful actress with a face full of scars and an unbelievable story of sex, demons, and violence on the set of a pornographic film in the San Fernando Valley. The cops chalk it up to a bad trip from a lost soul, but Brimstone knows better.
He takes the case, but the investigation goes haywire as he encounters Hell's Angels, a lost book of Japanese erotica, and a new enemy whose powers may fill the streets of L.A. with blood. He'll have to us his Carney wits, magic tricks, and a whole lotta charm to make it out of a world that is becoming . . . Hex-Rated.
