Capture The Man Who Crossed Worlds (Miles Franco #1) Written By Chris Strange Disseminated As Paper Copy

days it seems like the title of Urban Fantasy can be given out to anything that so much as involves a city somewhere.
This book is Urban with a capital U you can practically smell the stench of Bluegate, a city thats fallen a long, long way from grace.
Theres nothing remotely pretty about this story,

Miles Franco is a Tunneler, which means he can do entertaining stuff with reality and pop off to another dimension anytime he feels like it.
But that isnt too rare a skill in Bluegate, Whats unusual about him is that, unlike almost everyone else in the city, he honestly means well, He couldve taken a wellpaid job with one of the many city gangs if he didnt mind too much about incidental things like morality.
But he does, so he doesnt, and ends up living pretty rough in an apartment barely better than a shed,

Being the only decent bloke also gets him into trouble, When a dangerous new drug seems set to hit city circulation, Miles is dragged into the mess thats rapidly developing, Really, with the number of beatings Miles seems to attract its amazing hes survived this long, All the more so given what a naive, easily manipulated chump he is, But he manages to be likeable in spite of being constantly duped,

This is a wellwritten story, very noir with a clear and diverting narrative voice, Miless sense of humour is enjoyable, and one of the most likeable things about him is that his sense of the ridiculous never fails, even when hes in deep trouble.
Hes got a line ready for all circumstances, Perhaps its the only defence this shrimp can manage to muster, albeit a poor one, Shrimp he may be, by the way, but he certainly doesnt lack courage,

This story is full of twists and turns and Miles would do well to avoid trusting anyone too much, Most of the twists are well done, and kept me guessing until almost the end, The final one let me down a little when it turned out to be exactly what I was hoping wouldnt happen, That aside, this was a really strong book and an entertaining read, Im hoping Miles will grow a bit of a brain in time for the next book, though maybe next time he wont be duped by almost everyone.
When tunnels opened up between Earth and another dimension, a connection was made with a new race of people, the Vei, Trade was established and governments quickly moved to regulate traffic between the two worlds, Miles Franco is one of a small group of humans born with the gift of tunneling between the worlds, He operates on the fringes, smuggling Vei humanlike creatures and Vei products to Earth from the other world, colloquially know as Heaven, The story follows Miles as he's reluctantly coopted by the police on Earth to prevent a gang war,

Part detective and part science fiction, I had a

lot of fun reading The Man Who Crossed Worlds, I'm a long way from being a fan of noir, The breathless rush from one danger to the next strains my sense of disbelief, With that caveat in mind, I thought this story was well done and compelling,

Miles Franco delivers bucketloads of smartassed asides, He's imbued with an endearingly oldfashioned moral compass, and hampered by his inability to deal with beautiful women, Miles' innate desire to run toward trouble dogs him on every page,

Miles tunnels between the dimensions using circular artifacts, which he smears with a chemical manufactured on Earth by a dubious underground pharmacist.
Large tunnels used to transport Vei or Humans take considerable mental energy, He spends the whole book exhausted, Smaller tunnelspinholesallow him to pull on the chaotic nature of Heaven to change physical laws in Bluegatea concept I enjoyed,

Heaven doesn't featured much, disappointing, because on the one occasion I visited, it was delightfully Daliesque and the kind of place you'd want to go for your stag or hen night, or maybe Spring Break.


Bluegate, the Earth city where Miles, the police mostly crooked, and a number of rival bands of gangsters hang out and fight for control, forms a deliciously sleazy and gritty backdrop for the action.
And action is the byword in this novel, There's not much time spent looking at the scenery, or contemplating the inner motivations of the various factions,

Miles is blackmailed into helping the police prevent a dangerous new drug entering Bluegate from Heaven, Frankly, with the lawless nature of the city, I didn't really see the issue, This bothered me a little not understanding the story motivation, but not too muchit's that kind of story, You're in it for the ride, not to examine the interior décor,

Apparently, this novel sprang from a short' the author wrote and published, I'd say the concept of tunneling, and the character Miles Franco have enough depth to carry a sequel,

Disclaimer: This review was originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog, I may have received a free review copy,
I got this book for free from LT and am so glad that I did, The price doesn't affect my review, so believe me when I say that I truly enjoyed this book, Miles Franco made me laugh, I love that he never really took himself seriously even though he spends most of the book terrified, It was a little Urban Fantasy, a little Pulp, and a little Noir, Whatever it's catagory, it was well written and extremely entertaining, Other than making me laugh, two of the best things about this book were the world building and the twists that I didn't see coming I usually spot plot twists from a mile away.
I look forward to the next Miles Franco book, I sorta, kinda liked this, Urban fantasy is not a genre I love, but I picked it up because it supposedly had "noir" cred, Maybe, maybe not. Sometimes the characters sounded like black amp white gangster movies she pointed a gat, he feared he would "eat lead", etc, Sometimes they sounded British petrol slicks, taking a handful of paracetamol, And sometimes just uneducated ain't got none, The annoyance factor came very close to making me give up on this title, And yet. The story was compelling. This is the first in a series I might look for subsequent titles, If you like Noir and you like SciFi then this book is definitely for you,
I read this in two consecutive sittings and that only because I started in the early hours and attold myself “No! Not just another chapter before I fall asleep”.

Miles Franco the protagonist is a deeply flawed but basically decent guy who gets in way over his head when “encouraged” to assist the Bluegate PD,
think Sin City mixed with Toon Town crossed with Districtstirred with mob era Chicago
in stopping a dangerous new drug about to hit the streets.

Throw in another dimension, femme fatales, morally grey cops and a twisted reality,
The plot is complex enough with just a few handslappingforehead“How did I not see that coming” moments,
Very fast action pacing, witty dialogue, very amusing introspection and observations and a soupçon of background exposition that creates plausible character motivation.

An added bonus for me was the inclusion of two realistic, nonstereotyped, gay characters or to be more accurate two guys who are gay meh! so what! whom I sincerely hope appear in the succeeding books.

Another reviewer called this Urban Fantasy with a capital “U”, I heartily concur, I received this as a freebie but just as a friend will tell you “Youve gotta try this book, I think its right up your street!” and you then go out and buy all their previous works Im hooked.
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