My time with Deacon Chalk
A review of the first three books in the
Deacon Chalk:
Occult Bounty Hunter series.
Blood and Bullets,
Blood and Silver, Blood and
Magick
Deacon Chalk is an A-hole.
There, I said it. And having said it, he’s the type of alpha male, tough
as nails, egotistical jerk that you really want to read about. Given the number
of paranormal hunter books with touchy-feely tough guys, Deacon Chalk is a
breath of fresh air.
A little background. Deacon Chalk was an ordinary guy, whose
family was killed by a monster. Instead of drinking Earl Gray tea and
complaining, he learned to shoot, kick ass, and hunt the monster down. But he
didn’t stop there. Instead, he uses his talents to keep the creatures of the
night at bay.
Some transparency here. I know the author. I met James R.
Tuck a few years ago at a convention and we chat occasionally when we’re
working the same cons. While I enjoy this type of book, I was reluctant at
first to read it. I like Tuck and worried that I’d be disappointed. What a
mistake. While the character of Chalk is a great one, it’s the strength of Tuck’s
writing that truly makes this series pop.
Now, down to business…
While I’ve only read the first three books, there are more
out ( a couple of novellas ) and currently are on my list of ‘Must Reads’.
Book one, ‘Blood and Bullets’ introduces us to Chalk and his
supporting cast. As you read, you’ll notice that Chalk loves to storm about,
bellowing out that he is the only one who can do this job and he works alone.
Yet, he rarely goes into battle without his posse in tow.
‘Blood and Bullets’ starts off with a bit of a double-cross
and escalates from there into a nonstop blood-spilling, vampire staking,
monster hunting adventure… complete with a werespider. As someone who suffers
from arachnophobia, let me take this opportunity to thank Mr. Tuck for all the
werespider-induced nightmares. (I will hunt you down, but only after the Deacon
Chalk series is complete.)
The first book is a great introduction to the world and
fleshes out the characters in superb detail. Despite Chalk’s best efforts to be
a dick, the reader can’t help but like this testosterone-fueled vampire
killing, behemoth.
The second book, ‘Blood and Silver’ (I’m seeing a pattern in
his book titles), delves into Chalk’s world a little deeper, especially into
the area of the were-creatures. It picks up after the last book and does a
great job of giving the reader a sprinkling of flashbacks to remind us of what
had happened in the first book, without beating us over the head with an
info-dump. While the second book is certainly entertaining and full of blood,
gore, and over-the-top violence, it loses the reader somewhat. For me, it wasn’t
the were-creatures themselves, but the many types of weres. WereRabbits,
WereDeer, WereLions and so on and so forth, culminating into a big bad weremonster
(which I’ll not mention here so as not to spoil the surprise.). The number of
different were-species kept pulling me out of the story, so I could shake my
head before jumping back in to it. Now, I’m not saying it’s bad, but of the
three, this is the weakest.
Book three, ‘Blood and Magick’ (Yes, there is a pattern emerging
with these titles.) is, in my opinion, the strongest of the lot. The story
flows well, the supporting characters all have their moments and Chalk is in
top form. It is darker, grittier, and has great pacing. New characters are
dropped in to Chalk’s world and instead of being distractions, they perfect complement
the existing supporting cast and move the story along.
In the story, Chalk, who only wants to have some much needed
vacation time with his woman, finds himself protecting a trio of werepups from
a band of witches bent on using them for ‘evil’ purposes. Added to the mix is a
government agency who watch and combat the ‘creatures of the night’, but are
they allies or enemies?
I’ll be honest here… while I feel this is the best book of
the first three, there was one event near the end that almost made me put the
book down. I’ll simply say here that Chalk is a dick, but this act really took
the cake. Still, I had to finish the book because, dick or not, the story is
just too good not to finish.
Like I said earlier, the occult/paranormal hunter genre is a
bit overdone but what makes this series different is the writing. Tuck’s world
building, excellent storytelling, and ability to weave the words in the perfect
order are truly outstanding.
I highly recommend these books and look forward to reading
more of Deacon Chalk.
