I just finished reading The Locust Job, by Craig Shaefer.
This is a very good book. Pure pulp urban fantasy, straight into my veins. It ended on a bit of a cliffhanger, but I won’t begrudge it that too much. Shaefer has earned some credit from the nine books that I’ve read in this series, and if he wants to spend some of it making book ten suitably dramatic, then I have no real complaints.
This is a book that features no less than three different heists, multiple well-done plot twists, a bunch of fun characters we haven’t seen in a while making unexpected appearances, and a few other characters not being who they first appear. We get to see how Daniel goes about teaching someone the magician’s trade, we get to finally learn the secrets of Canton the Magnificent, we get everything we wanted except an actual conclusion to the First Story, which will presumably happen next book.
Anything I say about the plot of this book will be a spoiler, really. So all I’m going to say is that if you like hardboiled urban fantasy noir (and there are few things that I like better), then the Daniel Faust books will be right up your alley. The first couple are kind of oddly paced, but in a way that keeps delivering action and violence straight to your door. And I refuse to apologize for my delight in pulp fantasy violence.
You should pick up these books. They’re not what I would call classics of the writing craft, but they’re purely and wholeheartedly fun, full of twisty plotting and bombastic action scenes, along with some genuinely interesting worldbuilding details. Most days, that’s all I really want in my literature.