Black Blood

From John Meaney, the author of Bone Song and “the most important new SF writer of the 21st century,”* comes a new novel, Black Blood. In it he offers his intoxicating blend of futuristic noir and gothic fantasy in a thriller that carries a cop with a personal vendetta across the barrier between life and death. Here, in a morbidly lush necropolis, he must stop a conspiracy of killers whose power is fueled by spilling…

Hes lucky to be alive. Thats what everyone tells him. Except Tristopolitan police lieutenant Donal Riordan doesnt feel lucky and he isnt really alive. In one horrific moment not even death can erase from memory, Donal lost the woman he loved even as her ultimate sacrifice saved his life. Now its literally her heart that beats in his chest and her murder that Donal “lives” to avenge.

While being a zombie cop has its upsidesincluding inhuman reaction time and razor-sharp sensesDonals new undead status makes him the target of Tristopoliss powerful Unity Party, whose startling rise to power is built on a platform of antizombie paranoia and persecution. The Party is no friend, to be surebut its the secret cabal known as the Black Circle and their stranglehold on the citys elite that consume Donals black heart. For at the center of this ring of evil is the man responsible for his lovers murdera man Donal has already had to kill once before.

Now, with ominous reports of white wolf sightings throughout the city and a dangerous sabotage attempt at police headquarters, all signs indicate that the Black Circle is planning a magical coup détat. And the terror will begin with a political assassination triggered by a necroninja already hidden… in a place no one expects.

For Donal, its no longer a matter of life and death but something far more serious. How can he stop a killer who wont stay dead and an evil that death only makes stronger?

*Times (London)

"Meaney's ambitious sequel to 2008's Bone Song makes a successful and welcome shift from ambience and world-building to character and plot development. The gloomy city of Tristopolis is powered by necrofusion, energy produced from incinerating the physical and spiritual remains of the dead. Donal Riordan, a recently murdered Tristopolis police lieutenant now a zombie, is tasked with exposing a powerful cabal of conspirators known as the Black Circle while also trying to track down those responsible for the death of his lover, Laura. As a movement to strip the undead of human rights gains in popularity, the heroic Riordan suddenly finds himself a prime target for a fearful public. The politics and police procedure mix well with a virtual deluge of macabre imagery and symbolism to create a fast-moving and satisfying noir gothic fantasy." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

John Meaney is the author of five previous novels, including Bone Song, and has been short-listed three times for the British Science Fiction Award. He has a degree in physics and computer science and holds a black belt in Shotokan karate. He lives with his wife in Kent, England, where he is at work on his next novel.