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Johannes Cabal the Detective  By  cover art

Johannes Cabal the Detective

By: Jonathan L. Howard
Narrated by: Robin Sachs
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Publisher's summary

Johannes Cabal, necromancer of some little infamy, returns in this riotously clever and terrifically twisted tale of murder and international intrigue.

In this genre-twisting novel, infamous necromancer Johannes Cabal, after beating the Devil and being reunited with his soul, leads us on another raucous journey in a little-known corner of the world. This time he’s on the run from the local government.

Stealing the identity of a minor bureaucrat, Cabal takes passage on the Princess Hortense, a passenger aeroship that is leaving the country. The deception seems perfect, and Cabal looks forward to a quiet trip and a clean escape, until he comes face-to-face with Leonie Barrow, an enemy from the old days who could blow his cover. But when a fellow passenger throws himself to his death, or at least that is how it appears, Cabal begins to investigate out of curiosity. His minor efforts result in a vicious attempt on his own life—and then the gloves come off.

Cabal and Leonie—the only woman to ever match wits with him—reluctantly team up to discover the murderer. Before they are done, there will be more narrow escapes, involving sword fighting and newfangled flying machines. There will be massive destruction, not to mention resurrected dead . . .

Steampunk meets the classic Sherlockian mystery in this rip-roaring adventure where anything could happen . . . and does.

©2010 Jonathan L. Howard (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

"Johannes Cabal would kill me for saying this, but he's my favorite Zeppelin-hopping detective. The fellow has got all the charm of Bond and the smarts of Holmes -- without the pesky morality. Seriously though, don't tell Cabal I so much as mentioned his name." (Daniel H. Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of How to Survive a Robot Uprising and the forthcoming Robopacolypse)

“Is there life beyond death? Definitely! That is, if Johannes Cabal is on your side…The mysteries of past and future--science fiction and the occult, Jules Verne and Robert Anton Wilson--are all wrapped up in Jonathan L. Howard's fast-paced escapade of esoteric adventure.” (Katherine Neville, New York Times bestselling author of The Eight and The Fire)

What listeners say about Johannes Cabal the Detective

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

I enjoyed this listen.

While I did miss a little of the Dark Carnival of Necromancer, Cabal's foray (mostly) out of the arcane and into international intrigue was just as entertaining.

The quality of writing has improved greatly. Although I enjoyed Necromancer, I found it a bit episodic. The storytelling in Detective is much tighter and the author does just a great job ending this book. The epilogue alone is nearly worth the price of admission.

If you read the first and liked it, enjoy anti-heroes (consider a sociopathic Allan Quatermain), or have an appreciation for a dry sense of humor, I absolutely recommend this book.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A Decent Successor to the First

Do not be deceived by the title--it is actually mostly a detective story. :) Okay, I jest a bit, but after Book 1, I expected I suppose more supernatural twists.. more fantastical stuff. As it was, we were treated to a bit in the beginning and a bit at the end, but most of the book was a steampunk detective story.

Parts of the book were slow, but Howard keeps it going with interesting turns here and there. What's interesting is that while my wife doesn't really appreciate a book along the lines of the first one, I was able to recommend this one to her (she loves detective stories). She's in the midst of it now, just getting to the detective bits.

Anyways, in terms of characters, Cabal is Cabal--the 'bad' guy you've come to know and.. enjoy reading about. I like the mild interweaving of some of the story from the first book; but it's not enough so that you have to read it first (hence my wife can listen w/o doing so).

By far, for me, the most enjoyable part of the book was the last bit. Was it the prologue? I don't remember how it was framed, but it was fun--more Cabal style. That's what I look for in Cabal books.

Sachs is a different reader than the first book, but he manages a close enough continuity in voice that Cabal is still Cabal. He does the various accents quite well; I think I detected some intentional hiding and showing of a mild German accent for Cabal, which was masterful. Very well done; I look forward to more books read by Sachs. I think he is a reader on par with/comparable Guidall and Dale, which I think are masters.

Overall, I did enjoy it and if you like either detective stories or steampunk or antiheroes, you might enjoy it, too.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not as good as the first Johannes Cabal novel

I'm assuming if you're reading this, you listened to and loved the first Johannes Cabel novel as I did.

In fact, I esteem the first novel so highly that it pains me to say this - the sequel wasn't quite up to snuff.

I think I've narrowed it down to the two points that caused a problem for me. The first is the narrator Robin Sachs, who was very capable, but lacked the panache of the narrator of the first novel, Christopher Cazenove.

The second point was that the author moved from a macabre fantasy motif to a steampunk mystery motif. A very interesting setting and premise, but didn't draw me in as much as the first.

I think the author, Jonathan L. Howard, has an incredible command of rich prose - but it seems to lend itself much better to the lighthearted, skullduggery-filled, mischievous, and fantastic atmosphere of the first novel. And it also seems to depend highly on delivery, something the narrator Cazenove so admirably provided in the the first book.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Eagerly awaiting the sequal

As Neil Gaimen once said that it comes down to just four words "...and then what happened?" that make you want to keep reading.

This book will make you wonder "and then what happened" each time you have to take a break from listening. Interestingly, Cabal seems to become much more human and less scientific in this.

As usual, the narration is suburb. Will most certainly buy the sequel.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

An enjoyable second installation, but...

I very much enjoyed Johannes Cabal, Necromancer. This was a fun follow-up with many of the same insightful and humorous quips that were the hallmark of the first book. However, it doesn't feel quite as fresh, new, lively, insightful, and exciting as the first did. I could not wait to start this book. However, about half-way through, I found my mind wandering and looking forward to what I would listen to next.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Steampunk, Mystery and Dark Fantasy

Second in the Johannes Cabal series. This is a new narrator, the previous one who made Johannes Cabal Necromancer a five star listen, unfortunately died of septicemia. However, I cannot find anything to criticize about Robin Sachs, the new narrator.

The book opens with Cabal, the Necromancer, the prisoner in a dungeon. Everyone, including Johannes Cabal, is expecting his execution, but instead, his captors have another plan.

Those who know Cabal know that he will not take execution lying down, and so he sets out to throw a spanner in the political works and then take off on the maiden voyage of the Princess Hortense. Shortly into the voyage a fellow passenger disappears. Then a murder occurs in a locked room. Cabal who does not have a great deal of patience with his fellow passengers, finds himself, much against his worse judgment, pulled into an investigation of what is happening on board.

Darkly funny, I enjoyed Cabal's machinations almost as much as I enjoyed the first book in the series.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

droll and enjoyable

I enjoyed this very much. The mystery is compelling, the narration is superb, and Johannes is...well...Johannes. He gets a few chinks in his armor and it's just enough to keep him human, barely. And yet he remains a sympathetic character you can't help but root for. There's a wonderful short story at the end of this novel, too. Just a warning- it could be considered a bit slow for those used to quick-paced action, but I absolutely love the use of language in this novel- it's part of its charm.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Very fond of the first, but the second drags

I'll put it concisely: this was just a boring story. The first novel seemed a nonstop cadence of one creative character or event after another. This book lacks the creative supernatural flair, instead hinging upon the author's development of the main character's persona...which is not enough to drag the story through a series of events and settings that can best be described as stale and claustrophobic.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Big Jonathan Howard fan.

How he makes such a despicable character beloved is work of genius. A most enjoyable read and listen.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

There’s no one like Cabal

Excellent writing, great characters, subtle worldbuilding, very good reader: Buy this! You won’t be sorry.

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