Having been not terribly impressed by the previous installment, 'Ghost Road Blues,' I was surprised at how much I liked 'Dead Man's Song' by the time ..Show More »I was finished. I would recommend reading 'GRB' first, but there's a fair amount of exposition in the beginning of 'DMS,' which should bring readers up to speed.

It is in this installment in which we begin to see the depth of the story, and learn more about the lives of several key characters. It also introduces more traditional 'monsters' to the series, but Maberry manages to add his own twists to these legendary creatures. The action heats up as the book advances, and characters form new relationships as the rudiments of a 'group' begin to form.

My biggest gripe is with the characters, who are sometimes cartoonish and two-dimensional--vile villains and jack-of-all-trades supermen. Also, there are a couple candlelight 'lovemaking' scenes that are amazingly cringe-inducing.

But for all that, I really enjoyed DMS, and recommend it for fans of Maberry or of more light-hearted horror.

Lastly, this book seemed many times to be an deliberate and loving homage to one of my favorite Stephen King novels (giving away the title might be a spoiler in some regards, but it is among his earlier works).

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