The dead are rising. They’re even on Facebook.
If we don’t stop this fast, we’ll be knee-deep in zombies before you can say mmm, brains.
The problem? We don’t know who started it, why it’s happening, or how to stop it.
But G & C London, Private Investigators, are on the case — right after we handle disapproving reapers, cranky magicians, zombie-fied chickens, and a small case of personal undeadness.
Trust us.

IN A NUTSHELL
Filled with larger-than-life characters, lots of beautifully choreographed action scenes, gentle humour and a sense that, even with zombies rising, there are people in the world who are born to help others – they’re just not the people you might have expectd to fill that slot and quite a few of them are not human.  
I enjoyed this book more than the first one. It fleshed out the relationship between Gobbelino and Callum and introduced characters that I think provide the foundation for a fun series. 

I enjoyed ‘Gobbelino London and a Scourge of Pleasanties‘, but I didn’t get why so many of the people I know who are reading Kim Watt’s series have this series as a favourite. I think I get it now. I found this story much more engaging, not just because it was about zombies rising rather than Lovecraftian tentacles rending spacetime, but because I got to see more of how Gobbelino London thinks and I got a better understanding of his relationship with his human.

In the first book, I wasn’t sure how Gobbelino felt about Callum. I mean, Gobbelino’s a cat. It’s always difficult to know what a cat is feeling about its human. Gobbelino is telling the story, so he’s not always open about his feelings. It’s not the cat way. In the first book, I thought he perhaps felt indebted to Callum for having saved his life but, I wasn’t sure there was more to it than that. In this book, it’s clear Gobbelino will do whatever is necessary to protect Callum and that Callum feels the same way about Gobbelino. I liked that one of the things that binds them together is that each recognises that the other has been damaged by past traumas, which neither of them asks about. 

I admire Kim Watt’s ability to create a zombie apocalypse that was tense, full of action, and threaded with gentle humour that increased my empathy with the main characters as well as making me smile. The action scenes were beautifully choreographed, allowing a large cast of characters to enter the fray without any loss of focus or tension.

What I liked most about this book was that, as well as fleshing out the relationship between Gobbelino and Callum, it introduced an ensemble cast of larger-than-life characters who added zest and variety to the story. I enjoyed learning more about the sorceress from the last book. Seeing her on her motorbike made me reassess her completely. I loved meeting the reaper and her partner. They were both full of energy and charisma. That they spent their time running ‘The Dead Good Café’ with the reaper doing the baking amused me. I also liked Pru, the hairless cat from ‘The Sphinx Café’, She and Gobbelino worked well together. I hope to see more of her. 

This book has encouraged me to read more of the series. I’ll be adding ‘Gobbelino London & a Complication of Unicorns‘ to my shelves.