The cover of Corktown immediately draws the reader in – the blood on the title, a ghost cop, and an eerie dark menacing figure peering ominously from the building in the background. So much going on in just this one panel – can’t wait to read the book and find out what happens.
The first page jumps into the mystery and ties into current events. Detroit is suffering today – could there be a sinister reason? “People like to say that Detroit has gone to hell. The poverty. The depleted neighborhoods. If only they knew how spot on that statement actually is” – wow! While still making connections in my head, the story then jumps right into the terror.
The coloring and drawing is amazing – the greyscale works so well with the tone of the story. Bravo Scott Ewen!
Mario Candelaria wrote another story about “ordinary” people – blue collar workers who put their lives on the line every day. Before, it was an amazing story about firefighters (Ashes), now it is police – dealing with budget cuts in a rough city, trying not to throw up from the gore. Of courses, this novel also has a supernatural twist as we see two ghostly figures squaring off on a dead body before the police show up.
I am a huge fan of the vampire genre and this novel reminds me of The Strain – the action, drama, and plot are just as exciting. Although we know it is, at the center, a story about vampires, the story does not jump immediately into it. We are left with building up suspense in a morgue about what is happening with a reanimating body (while the soul of this person looks on). This is a story for mature readers only.