Reviewed by Carissa

TITLE:  The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal

AUTHOR:  K.J. Charles

PUBLISHER:  Samhain Publishing

LENGTH:  224 pages

BLURB:  

A story too secret, too terrifying—and too shockingly intimate—for Victorian eyes.

A note to the Editor

Dear Henry,

I have been Simon Feximal’s companion, assistant and chronicler for twenty years now, and during that time my Casebooks of Feximal the Ghost-Hunter have spread the reputation of this most accomplished of ghost-hunters far and wide.

You have asked me often for the tale of our first meeting, and how my association with Feximal came about. I have always declined, because it is a story too private to be truthfully recounted, and a memory too precious to be falsified. But none knows better than I that stories must be told.

So here is it, Henry, a full and accurate account of how I met Simon Feximal, which I shall leave with my solicitor to pass to you after my death.

I dare say it may not be quite what you expect.

Robert Caldwell
September 1914

REVIEW:  

This is the story of Simon Feximal. Well, actually, it is the story of Robert Caldwell and his life with Simon Feximal. Their life isn’t pretty, or kind, but it is exciting and full. It is also dangerous–and not just because the ghosts and ghoulies that they encounter. Stories have been told over their years together–penned by Robert about his and Simon’s various cases–but they have always been less than completely truthful. The truth, you see, is far dangerous than the lie, and perhaps a great deal more scary.

This is the real story of Robert Caldwell and Simon Feximal. Be it for good or for ill, it is finally the truth.

I’ve been looking forward to this book for quite a while. Pretty much from the moment I first saw that it was going  to be written. I adored the little crossover with Jordan L. Hawk’s Whyborne and Griffin, and just had to know more about these characters. There seemed to quite a bit left unsaid, and more than little back story between Simon and Robert, and I needed to know it. I’m never quite content with what I have been given, I’m always wanting more.

And more is what I got. Heaven help me.

I honestly don’t know how to put into words what I feel about this book. I loved it, but that seems not enough. Maybe because the reason I loved it is the reason it took me so long to get around to reading it. I could tell that I was going to fall in love with these characters. It was inevitable. But even from the beginning I could tell that it was probably going to break my heart to do so.

There is something in the tone of Robert’s letter to his editor. Something in the way various characters act. There is something about this voice from the dead, speaking his true story, at last, that reminds us that HEA is not inevitable. That there are things coming that not even Simon can beat. And for all that I absolutely loved the little mysterious that pepper this story, I was not able to shake the feeling that Something Was Coming.

And it came.

And I cried.

And I smiled.

And I was left completely unsure what to do with this story.

It was good. So very good. And the cases were equal parts scary and mysterious. The romance between these two was very real, but in an understated way. Long periods of time pass between cases. Life happens that we never see or are never told. Yet I am sure that Robert loved Simon and that that love was returned. Even if the words were hidden in actions and not spoken allowed most of the time.

I always want good to triumph over evil. I want my characters to find a way to a HEA. I want, perhaps foolishly, for them to always be happy; to grow old and die together. But that is the rub with reading things set in historical contexts. For all that I love them, they can never be certain.

The thing is, if KJ Charles had ended this story a chapter early, maybe it would have still been a good story. And maybe I wouldn’t have cried. Or have been stuck with this god-awful inner-conflict over a damn fiction book about fictional characters who ARE NOT REAL SO COULD YOU PLEASE STOP CRYING NOW. But if she had done that, it would not have been a great book. I find myself reluctant to lose that, even at the cost of being rather unsettled by the end.

And now I have probably scared you off. Which is not my intention. Gods, no. You really should read this book. It is a great read. The characters are awesome. The mysteries are fun to unravel. The bad guys make you want to stab them repeatedly with writing implements–more so because what they are doing seems so justified in their own heads. This is a really great book, and you need to read it if you even halfway love Charles’ over stuff. And the ending is not bad, it just hurts a little.

You just have to have a little hope, and everything will be fine.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Samhain

Amazon 

ARe