All The Hidden Monsters

Agile teenage minds may well relish this rapid, taut plot, especially if they know their werewolves from their warlocks, along with a working knowledge of the characteristics of poltergeists (especially one in her postmortem existence, since the nature of her death and indeed her murderer are at the heart of this novel).

There’s much that is highly original in this story of a serial killer (exclusively werewolf victims) at large in Manchester, albeit a city unfamiliar to this Mancunian reviewer. It comprises an Upside inhabited by humans and other creatures who can, at will, look like humans; and a subterranean Downside with occupants ranging from those werewolves and warlocks to a few fairies and pixies, alongside minotaurs and other composites of more or less anything.

Keeping this world under control might suggest a daunting challenge for a debut novelist, since the plot demands a fair bit of shifting (of both shape and location) which happens at eye-twinkling speed. But Jordan somehow keeps everything intelligible and gripping in the detection and pursuit of a violent killer, whose identity and motivation came as a disconcerting surprise in the final pages.

The plot never loses impetus and menace and within it all Jordan also tells a story of an almost reluctantly evolving love between Oren, a battle-hardened warlock and Sage, a young werewolf. He works for the law-keeping force Arcanum, with hundreds of years of bloodstained encounters behind him. Sage lives in Manchester, moving between the Downside and the Upside. She cannot rid herself of a guilt stemming from a single, desperate mistake; her hope is that she might find atonement through working for the Arcanum. The Captain of the local Arcanum orders Oren and Sage to work together on a murder in a city apartment.  Oren has insisted, throughout a brilliantly successful international career, that he works alone; the last thing he wants is a novice female partner.  Sage loathes his cold arrogance and indifference.  It’s intense dislike at first sight and on both sides when the two meet. The apartment where the murder trail begins belonged to the victim, one of Sage’s childhood friends; it’s a bloodbath.  Similar killings follow at intervals. Readers will need the ability to hang on to the twisting narrative thread while enjoying the idiosyncrasies of a small but colourful cast. It’s well worth it.