Death Most Definite (Death Works #1) – Trent Jamieson
Orbit Hachette Livre, 2010
374 pages
RRP: AU$19.99
ISBN: 978-073-362483-4

Review by Liz Grzyb

Brisbane has certainly been producing some awesome SF writers, and Trent Jamieson is most definitely one of them. Ticon4.com has published short fiction from Jamieson before, so we were eagerly awaiting his first novel. Death Most Definite does not disappoint. It’s a pacy, gritty chase through our world and the underworld.

As a fan of the TV show Dead Like Me, I was intrigued by the idea of grim reapers. Jamieson’s Pomps are nothing like this, being alive and paid for their services, just for starters, but there is a darkly humorous twist in both views of Reapers. The anti-hero in Death Most Definite is Steve, a laid-back kinda guy who doesn’t really have high aspirations. He’s single, lives with his dog Molly and does just enough to not get into (too much) trouble. Life is pretty good, until he sees a dead girl in his local food court who tells him to run.

After this auspicious beginning, trouble seems to find Steve very easily. The very attractive, very dead Lissa keeps appearing to help him to run away from people trying to shoot him, and then his nearest and dearest start getting killed. His house and car are blown up, and it seems that his workplace, Number Four, is the target of an extremely hostile takeover. How can Steve get out of this with heart and head intact? The journey takes us through the depths of Brisbane and Hell and back.

Death Most Definite is an intriguing and entertaining read that will keep the adrenaline pumping and pages turning. Fans of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series will enjoy the grim realism of this urban fantasy. I can’t wait for the second instalment to be released in December.