Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Unholy Ghosts - Stacia Kane
Series: Downside Ghosts #1
Published by: Blackstone Audio, on 25 May 2010
Genres: Adult, Mystery, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy
Length: 11h 10m - Bahni Turpin Format: Audiobook
Source: Audible Purchase
 

The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen, and the living are under attack.

In a future world under attack from the undead, the powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Consequently, there are many false claims of hauntings from those hoping to profit. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully-tattooed witch and freewheeling ghost hunter. She's got a real talent for nailing human liars and banishing the wicked dead. But she's keeping a dark secret from the Church: a little drug problem that's landed her in hot water.

Chess owes a lot of money to a dangerous drug lord who wants immediate payback. All Chess has to do is dispatch a very nasty species of undead from an old airport. But the job involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and crossing swords with enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in a dangerous attraction to the drug lord's ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it. Hell, yeah.

Unholy Ghosts in audioversion is even better than the written version, if that is even possible! Bahni Turpin’s narration brought the awesomeness to a whole new level, with her changes in pitch, pace, and the way she ‘was’ each of the characters I’ve come to know and love in the Downside Ghosts series.

My Unholy Ghosts audio review:

I am still new to audiobooks, but I think Unholy Ghosts managed to really whet my appetite, and to be able to live the story because someone talented tells it to me is such a great experience. Each time Turpin narrated Lex, I could hear the kind of teasing smile in her voice, and if Chess was upset about something, it could be heard in her voice too.The way Chess actually shrieked instead of me just reading ‘Chess shrieked’ was so well done, and I was so into the story I would have done ironing all day – and that’s my least favorite chore to do!

Unholy Ghosts includes a very specific Downside dialect for some of the characters, and Bahni Turpin had that down to pat as well, I can’t even begin to explain how great she is at narrating. I have read all the Downside Ghosts books that have been released so far, and this series is among my favorite UF series, which is another reason I was so happy to be transported by Turpin’s voice and her perfect way of expressing the feelings and moods of the characters.

I know I have tagged my review with ‘strong female character’ because even with all her flaws and insecurities, I think Chess is just that. In Unholy Ghosts, the readers get to know her, and the fact that she has an important job does not deter her from using her drugs to dull all the past pains she is still feeling. Hearing Chess rationalize her addiction was another thing I really enjoyed, because listening to her brought me even farther into her head.

Some of my favorite Unholy Ghosts quotes:

If her life had taught her anything, it was that you never really knew what people had going on beneath the surface. People were shit. The only difference between them and animals was people felt the need to hide it.
 
Terrible thought she was brave. She remembered it now, heard his voice in her head as if he stood next to her. “They scared. Not you, though.” Terrible thought she was brave, and if he – a man whose name was Terrible, a man whose path people scrambled to get out of – thought so, it must be true. She could do this, she would do this.

Bump stood in the middle of the room, wrapped in a heavy fur coat, with a black silk top hat covering his fuzzy head and unnecessary sunglasses hiding his pale face. He looked like the Abominable Snowpimp.