Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: Earnest Ink
AUTHOR: Alex Hall
PUBLISHER: NineStar Press
LENGTH: 277 pages
RELEASE DATE: October 10, 2019
BLURB:
While twenty-year-old FTM Hemingway is making an excellent living as a tattoo artist in a near-future version of Hell’s Kitchen, the rest of the country is splintered and struggling in the wake of a war gone on for too long. Technology has collapsed, borders rise and fall overnight, and magic has awakened without rhyme, reason, or rule, turning average unwitting citizens into wielders of strange and specific strands of magic.
Hemingway’s particular brand of magic has made him a household name. Not only is he a talented artist, but his work comes to life. Literally.
When NYC’s most infamous serial killer—the East River Ripper—abducts Hemingway’s best friend, Grace, he has only days to save her. Hemingway teams up with his stoic cop roommate to hunt for the killer and rescue Grace before she becomes the Ripper’s latest victim. But as the duo chase clues to the serial killer’s identity, Hemingway begins to fear the magic he and the Ripper share might eventually corrupt him too.
REVIEW:
Earnest Hemingway is a transgender tattoo artist with a difference. In a world where bombings changed everything, he has the ability to infuse his tattoos with magic, making them come to life. He has the money and the fame to prove he’s good at what he does, too.
There are a few people who have magic, and the authorities keep a close eye on them. In all walks of life, there are good people and evil, and there is someone out there using their magic for bad. When Hemingway’s best friend goes missing at the hands of a serial killer, he gets involved.
First and foremost, this novel is a crime story. It is not a romance. There are some close, almost intimate friendships, but no romance. I gotta say that it made a nice change to read a story where the emphasis was not on finding the love of a lifetime. I liked Hemingway because he was different. He wasn’t a character that was immediately amiable, but he grew on me. He knows he’s good at what he does. Knows why some people stare and calls events as he sees them.
The story is told in the first person from Hemingway’s viewpoint and is technically sound. The extended cast is varied and demonstrates how prejudice extends to more than a person’s sexuality. These issues are tackled but not in detail.
The crime element doesn’t come into its own until later in the story, though it is in the background. Until then, the emphasis is the world after the bombings, Hemingway’s past and his place in the new regime. There is an awful lot of scene-setting/descriptions of New York/Manhattan and the way it’s changed. As events happen, they trigger memories, which, in turn develop into backstory – eventually.
There are areas where some readers will prefer more of an explanation, or perhaps an earlier one. But, I’m not averse to a bit of mystery. I don’t believe that every nuance in a story must be explained immediately or to the nth degree. But there are plenty of details in all sorts of places. Personally, as fascinating as the new world was and given the blurb, I’ expected to see Hemingway more involved with the case, and earlier.
I liked this story because it was different from anything I’ve read before. It is promoted as a standalone. However, I couldn’t help feeling that the world described was so detailed and so much could still happen, that it was the scene-setter for something more – possibly a series. There are plenty of intriguing characters who could have a story to tell.
RATING: 
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