Priest of Bones by Peter McLean

Publisher – Jo Fletcher Books

Published – Out Now

Price – £9.99 paperback £4.99 Kindle eBook

'Sixty-five thousand battle-shocked, trained killers came home to no jobs, no food and the plague. What did Her Majesty think was going to happen?'

Tomas Piety takes his duties seriously: as a soldier, as a priest of Our Lady of Eternal Sorrows and as a leader of men. He has come home from the war to reclaim his family business, to provide for his men and to ensure the horrors of Abingon can never happen in Ellinburg.

But things have changed: his crime empire has been stolen and the people of Ellinburg - his people - have run out of food and hope and places to hide. With his best friend Bloody Anne, his war-damaged brother Jochan and his new gang, the Pious Men, Tomas sets out to reclaim what was his.

And as Tomas is dragged into a web of political intrigue by the sinister Queen's Men, forced to work against the foreign infiltrators lurking in the backstreet taverns, brothels and gambling dens of the Stink, one thing becomes clear.

The war has just begun.

In fantasy a war is often the end of the story. The climactic reckoning of good versus evuil where order is restored but very rarely do we wonder what happened next and in particular what happens to those massive armies? Will it all be happy ever after? Fortunately, Peter McLean in their excellent fantasy novel Priest of Bones has looked at what happens when people get trained to fight and experience the horrors of war but also imagines what would have happened if some had also been criminals I their previous life. The results are deadly, fascinating and a glorious tale to be thoroughly enjoyed!

Tomas Piety returns to his hometown of Ellinburg several years after fighting. He has learned a lot; become his company’s Priest and now longs for home. But Tomas Piety while he started as a bricklayer isn’t a straightforward man. He was once the leader of the criminal gang known as the Pious Boys; feared and respected in equal measure as a crime boss but now he and his associates plus some army veterans return to find all his businesses and properties in other people’s hands. Tomas has to fight for it all back; but he also finds that Ellinburg has more than gangsters to fear and in particular the mysterious secret service known as the Queen’s Men are also in town and have their own ideas on how Tomas must play a role in their larger games.

This is an intelligent, suspenseful, and entertaining novel that takes noir gangster stories and places them within a fantasy world with a few added twists. What glues it all together is our narrator Tomas Piety himself. McLean does an amazing job of using narration to give us a sense of character. Piety is very multi-faceted as we already learn by seeing a man calling himself a Priest who is also a soldier and a crime-lord and yet sees no issues with being in these roles all at once. Refreshingly he is a veteran in his forties, pragmatic rather than young and rash, has a sense of humour but also believes in the concept of ‘harsh justice’ he believes in a code of honour more focused perhaps on those he believes is on his side but when he wants it bloodshed will follow. The whole tale is in his voice narrating his return and attempt to rebuild his empire.

What impressed me is how McLean makes us realise war changes people. Piety was already a criminal prior to the war but now he understands tactics, motivating soldiers, the art of propaganda and also carries the darker side of war. Piety is surprised that his memories of fighting do exact an emotional toll as he has witnessed things on the streets of various towns, he raided that he never wants to see again. When the mysterious Queen’s Men recruit Piety into their games his determination to prevent war coming to his hometown is very much driven by his experience of what war truly is. But he also senses the opportunity to use these resources and his new skills to create a formidable criminal enterprise. Again this interesting duality makes him higely interesting to watch develop.

The plot then briskly unfolds with Piety moving up from just a small tavern he reclaims all the way to becoming once again a recognised ‘Prince’ of his town. A man known and feared by fellow crime lords, corrupt police and politicians and even cheered on the streets. To get it all back though requires guile and violence plus we get a number of impressive set pieces as various prizes are seized or opponents taken down. The action is brutal but not glorifying but it really captures our interests to see how far Tomas goes. The other interesting agenda is the realisation that Ellinburg appears to be a place where various powers are using the gangs for their own bigger political/military gains and hints at the wider story this will be just the first volume of. The whole world has history, depth and its own sense of character which really makes you eager to see what else is going on and exactly how Tomas will feature into the plot

Along the way we also get some other intriguing characters to meet. There is a complex relationship seen with Tomas’ younger wilder brother Joachen. Very much someone always acting on instinct and ready for another fight or drink, but we slowly learn is carrying his own brutal experiences very close to his skin and while we never warm yet to him we scarily get to understand him. I absolutely loved meeting Bloody Anne who is Tomas’ old Sergeant and becomes one of the Pious Men herself. Anne is really interesting being hard as nails, loyal and not afraid to pull Tomas up about what is going on around him. She has a fascinating backstory that helps again to both explain her and give depth to this world (which is not a kind one) and watching her enter criminal society is a fascinating character arc. Lastly and this is where fantastical elements appear most, we have the young teenager Billy The Boy who joined Tomas in the war and appears to his eyes to be touched by his Goddess and capable of magic too. In this world magicians are well known and their uses for criminals add a new terrifying dimension to violence. Will Billy be a useful weapon or is Tomas perhaps overestimating what he can control?

Leading up to a spectacular and explosive finale Priest of Bones was a fully immersive read with one of the most interesting characters to tell us their story in their own words that I’ve read in a long time. Anyone who enjoys crime stories and movies will recognise certain elements butt he delight here is how they’ve cleverly been fitted into a low fantasy setting and also as the tale progresses we see a wider plotline for the series begin to emerge. Bloody, entertaining and smart this is a series I’m very very glad I’m finally starting this series and I suspect the next volumes will be all getting read very soon. Strongly recommended!