What a fresh take on the paranormal genre this is, I loved it! The book is a well paced mix of dark humour, mystery, and the paranormal. We get to meet the unlikely duo of The Gliss, the ghostly-non-ghost guide and Porter, the reluctant human who’s been unceremoniously thrown into investigating old war crimes with his newfound gift. Along the journey Porter alos teams up with, wait for it, a ghost hunter who is also a sceptic, and a TV historian who is completely out of her depth but along for the ride regardless.

I think it’s hard to pin this book down to any particular genre, it’s a large mix of many, but that works in it’s favour. Firstly we have the paranormal aspects with The Gliss, and various other spirits who make themselves known over the course of the story. There’s also the crime and mystery side of it, as Porter works to solve long forgotten war crimes whilst piecing together fragments of his family history. Last but certainly not least, there’s a large dose of humour injected into the story line, with the book making me chuckle several times.

There are dark moments, and the natures of the crimes that are being investigated are pretty dark, too, but that isn’t something that bothers me in books. That being said, there are no really graphic scenes, instead it is skilled scene setting that allows the reader to fill in the blanks themselves, so anyone who is more adverse to darker subjects would probably still enjoy reading this.

The relationship between Porter and The Gliss slowly blossoms into a sort of friendship, which comes a long way from their first meeting. Porter wanted nothing more than for The Gliss to disappear and leave him alone; he was always there judging and commenting on Porters daily activities and thoughts, only Porter could see him so he regularly looked like he’d lost the plot by speaking to The Gliss whilst out in public. Towards the end of the book, Porter changes his tune and this is clearly shown by the fact he appears uncomfortable with the absence of The Gliss on a few occasions when it disappears for a while. I’m thrilled to see that this book is only book one of a series, as I can’t wait to read more of Porters adventures with The Gliss

Thank you NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the eARC.
This is a unique book. I didn't know what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised at how enjoyable a read it was.
Porter has decided to commit suicide, but a 'ghost' (The Gliss, who prefers to be called a Messenger) stops him and the two of them go on an epic journey to right the wrongs of the past. Their relationship and bantering are fun and when a new character, Feng, joins their quest, it gets even better. On a more serious note, we go back to WWI frequently, with sad and eye opening scenes featuring Porter's forefathers.
A recommended read, I hope this is the beginning of a series. It would be great to enjoy further adventures of Porter and The Gliss.

Ok I know this is the second paranormal investigation book I’ve read and enjoyed in a few days, so talking about how it isn’t a personally preferred genre seems kind of wrong, but it really, really isn’t. It’s just a random lovely glitch in the matrix or something that brought two very good paranormal investigation themed books to my radar. Not even from trusted publishers, either. Genuinely random finds. This one…there was just something about it that attracted my attention immediately, despite the fact that normally I wouldn’t necessarily be sold on the plot where a ghost and a discredited depressed solicitor team up to wring a historical wrong. But The Gliss (yeah, use the The) and Porter are actually a terrific team, especially The Gliss, a sarcastic mysterious being who kinda looks like a robot and randomly belts out musicals. Porter is no slouch either, at least in a way that the guy can take a beating (and another one and another one) and goes on ticking. And not just ticking, but also teaming up with a pretty variegated cast of characters to solve the mysteries behind the death of WWI soldiers, one of whom was his own ancestor. It turns out a very serious international case and if solving century old crimes wasn’t difficult enough, there’s also a malevolent poltergeist to contend with. So there’s a lot going on and it’s all pretty exciting. In fact, this book too me an uncharacteristically long time to read (which is to say over a day) and I didn’t even mind, because I was so thoroughly entertained throughout. This is the author’s debut novel, but the man has written for tv for ages, so he’s got the chops to delight the audiences and the versatility too, going from drama to comedy to suspense to action to mystery, from natural to supernatural and so on. And it’s all done so well, especially the comedy, very nicely balanced in with the dark and heavy subject matter. I liked this book so much, I almost loved it. Despite being generally opposed to sequels and series, I do admit The Gliss and Porter are a team worth revisiting with. This was just entirely too much fun for one and done. Somehow this was exactly a book I was in the mood for and I’m very pleased to have given this a try. You should too. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.