Deicide

Agents of Mortal, Book 1

By: M. K. Gibson

Narrated by: Jeffrey Kafer, Heather Costa

What happens when all the myths, legends, and things that go bump in the night come out to the world as real? Well, the world does as it always does: It rejected them.

Welcome to Avalantis, Alaska, the world’s first supercity with over 50 million myth and mundane citizens and home of those rejected by society. Although due to pesky things like murder end explosions, there are a few fewer citizens. When the former Greek god Hermes dies, three unusual cops from the Avalantis PD are recruited into a secret organization known as Mortal, who has apparently been watching the Myths for longer than mankind realizes.

Their mission is to find and apprehend the mysterious figure known as “The Laughing Man”, the one responsible for a recent string of deaths. These three new recruits will have to use all their skill, strength, and wits to find and defeat the “The Laughing Man”. That is, if they don’t kill each other first.

Agents of Mortal: Deicide is an action-comedy that is packed with excitement, laughs, and more than a few touching moments.

©2019 Michael Gibson (P)2020 Michael Gibson

Loved It!

This book plays out like a movie! So entertaining! Loved it from beginning to end.

Great Story And Great Performance

M,K, Gibson has done it again! great story. and Jeffrey Kafer and Heather Costa are always the best! and they wont let you down with this book, BUY IT!

My thoughts on Deicide

This novel has been the biggest surpise of the year for me. It a mystery at its core that takes place in a city where myths for all regions of the world live side to side with human beings. While magical and scientific tech exists for the most part the world is contempoary to our own. At the begining the God Hermes is murdered and four cops are drafted in a black ops organization that been around for centuries. This book has laughs, action, drama, suspense and character arcs that are fullly fleshed out. I really enjoyed it.


Before I finish I need to address the elephant in the room. There are two narrators. I expected the male to read the male parts and the female to read the female parts. Maybe that was the plan then Covid 19 happened and they recorded seporately. The end result is they take turn reading whole chapters. Both did a masterful job but it can be jarring and somethin that I can understand would be  a dealbreaker to some. 

Brooklyn 99 meets the Dresden Files

DEICIDE (Agents of MORTAL) by M.K. Gibson is the latest offering from an author that has done a lot of books that I've enjoyed. I've read his TECHNOMANCER, VILLAINS RULE, and SHE DREAMS OF FIRE novels. Like a lot of the indie authors I know, he's on the Kindle Unlimited system and effectively a free-ish book source for subscribers. Gibson's book are heavy on the humor, irony, and cynicism with his protagonists tending to be somewhat sardonic heroes in the Harry Dresden mold.

The premise is that the "myths" have come out: gods, goblins, vampires, and more. Unfortunately, this does not result in a renewal of their worship but all of them being rejected by society. The town of Avalantis, Alaska is reserved for them and becomes a city with 50,000,000 people in it. I'm not sure if that qualifies as a city instead of a nation since even New York City is only eight million people. Really, I'm inclined to think that it should have been only 5 million people but Twin Peaks had 51,000 people despite having only three cops in it so what do I know.

The story follows the recruitment of a up and coming police officer named Jesse into an elite branch of the Avalantis police department called MORTAL. Jesse is a wee bit bitter because despite devoting herself to the APD, she was almost murdered by her partner. It turns out being an overachiever and scrupulously honest cop in a corrupt supernatural reservation doesn't win you any friends.

However, Jesse's devotion to the law is just what needed when a politically sensitive case drops itself on MORTAL's desk: the death of Greek God Hermes. Apparently, he overdosed on a drug that briefly restores divine power and exploded on a bunch of cops. Who gave him the drug, why, and how much more do they have of it? It's a fascinating combination of a very street-level story with an epic mystical one.

I was a big fan of supporting character Cassandra Cross who is a woman that ticks off Jesse in every single way. Whereas Jesse has devoted herself to being meticulous, efficient, conservative, and uptight (a bit like Exley from L.A CONFIDENTIAL), Cross is well-liked and laid back. There's also the fact that Cross doesn't mind being openly sexual and this plays into a lot of Jesse's internalized misogyny. Jesse has sacrificed everything to be the top cop she thinks herself to be and is annoyed that Cassandra is seemingly able to be one without having sacrificed a life.

This is not a particularly serious work but is very humorous with barista gods, party girl goddesses, and even a high priest of Cthulhu from Kentucky. I was a bit uncomfortable with the fact people from real religious groups (Buddha, Kali) had their figures under "myths" but M.K. Gibson books have about as reverence for anything as South Park. It's basically Brooklyn 99 with gods, magic, and fairies.

In conclusion, I got a lot of enjoyment out of this book. I think everyone who enjoyed his other books will enjoy this work as well. This is the perfect afternoon comfort food and if you like your stories crass, fun, and with a surprising amount of heart then you will enjoy this. This is a funny, Brooklyn 99-esque series that people who don't take their urban fantasy too seriously will greatly enjoy.

Amazing

An amazing story once again wonderfully put together story by mk Gibson ALWAYS looking forward to his next boom can't wait to see what he does with this series