As a long time fan of Darren Shan I have made it my life’s work to read all that he writes; my latest conquest was his novel for adults – Procession of the Dead. Being so used to his style of writing meant for teenagers I was in utter shock after reading the first few pages, needless to say they were very rude! But it wasn’t long before I had settled into this new style and devoured the entire book. Darren Shan has such a great way of expressing his ideas and stories that you can’t help but be sucked right into the pages and fall directly into the arms of the characters. From there they carry you through the story, in this case the brutal tale of a gangster named Capac. Check out the blurb:

Quick-witted and cocksure, young upstart Capac Raimi arrives in the City determined to make his mark. As he learns the tricks of his new trade from his Uncle Theo – extortion, racketeering, threatening behaviour – he’s soon well on his way to becoming a promising new gangster. Then he crosses paths with The Cardinal, and his life changes forever.

The Cardinal is the City and the City is The Cardinal. They are joined at the soul. Nothing moves on the streets, or below them, without the Cardinal’s knowledge. His rule is absolute.

As Capac begins to discover more about the extent of the Cardinal’s influence on his own life he is faced with hard choices. And as his ambition soars ever higher he will learn all there is to know about loss, and the true cost of ultimate power…

I wasn’t sure that I was going to get into this story as I have never really delved into the world of gangsters and crime in literature, I’m pretty sure the only ‘gangster’ themed work I enjoyed was the wonderful musical ‘Bugsy Malone’ – the one they show around Christmas with all the children. But this book had me hooked, the action, the drama, the mystery, I just wanted to understand what was going on the whole time and of course, the master of horror that he is, scared me a few times.

This certainly isn’t my favourite Darren Shan novel (The Darren Shan Saga will always own my heart), but I have already ordered the whole ‘The City Trilogy’ and can’t wait to get stuck into them.