This is not your average police procedural, is part gritty urban thriller and part sci-fi fantasy, there is an awful lot for the reader to digest.

It is the second book in a trilogy (between The Dying Squad and The Ungrateful Dead) and I would strongly recommend starting at the beginning to avoid confusion as the backstory, which is part explained, is complex.

The action, of which there is plenty, is vividly described, and set in on the ‘soil’ of the earth where we all live and the pen that is a spiritual dimension which is essentially purgatory. The pen is a clearing house for lost souls, those that don’t immediately go to the good place or the other one where none of us want to end up. Those souls that don’t make it off the soil have literally a hell on earth.

Our hero, the aptly named, Joe Lazarus was a bent cop on the soil, well he was more of a criminal than cop, running a county lines drugs operation. Now in the pen he has been recruited onto the Dying Squad, a small team who can return to the soil for short periods to help the living and sometimes those souls who are stranded. This is their way of finding redemption and a spot in the good place. Here he is sent back to the soil, with his new partner Bits, to track down a serial killer who is targeting the oldest and youngest members of families.

Daisy-May is the Warden of the pen, the queen of purgatory, and on the soil worked in Joe’s drugs operation when she died. She is now forever in her late teens and so is feisty, petulant and stroppy in equal measure. She has her work cut out because children are disappearing in the afterlife, but nobody seems to have noticed or care. Her investigation will take her to the outer reaches of her realm and discover a conspiracy that threatens the living and the dead.

Her predecessor as warden the Duchess (Rachel) is on the soil on the trail of her deranged sister Hanna. Hanna is in Tokyo creating murderous havoc, recruiting the dead with a insane plan (involving a damaged nuclear power station) to bring power to the dispossessed. All the Duchess has at her disposal is a washed-up Japanese detective who is slowly dying.

The plot is complex and is only partially resolved, leaving threads leading to book three which I’m sure you are going to want to read. The various settings are simply incredibly imagined, this could be the work of a disturbed genius or someone in need of sedation. I found myself at times thinking that makes no sense, you can do that, then reminding myself its fantasy and then thinking wow what a cool idea. There are a series of set-piece fights that capture the imagination, raise the heart rate and keep the action bowling along. There is violence, a little graphic at times and a little shocking at others, but it feels right for the context of a battle of good against evil (including Nazi experimentation).

The main characters hold the limelight but there are some great supporting characters too. None more so than Rachel’s other sister Mabel who is a madcap genius in the mould of Q from the Bond movies. She has brilliant gadgets and some killer lines.

The dialogue is simply brilliant, vibrant, full of energy and thoroughly modern. Expect great dollops of sarcasm, edginess, insults, childish bickering and killer come backs, even from the dead. Some of the put downs had me snorting with laughter. The colourful descriptions add great texture to the prose, who cannot appreciate an underground pit being described as Hell’s loft extension or the downs being a rabbit warren of filth, desperation and hopelessness.

Manchester figures largely too and Bit’s love hate relationship with his home city is certainly entertaining. He describes Salford as being ‘the Devil’s playground’ and ‘still being full of cunts’ and provides vivid memories of the famous ‘Lads Club’, not all of which are good.

The Generation Killer is a triumph of imagination over convention.

I would like to thank Net Galley, the publisher and author for access in exchange for a fair review.

I didn't realize this book in the second one in a series, but wow, did I enjoy this. I enjoyed the "dead" investigation and detectives, this really gives it another twist to the crime genre!

A good read. Some of the themes and topics in this book is somewhat good but it doesn't standout that much for me.

But I do hope to read more of this author.

The Dying Squad was one of the most original book i read last year: an intriguing story, fascinating world building, great characters.
This is the excellent follow up and the mix of urban fantasy and thriller works well making it a gripping and highly entertaining book.
Adam Simcox is a talented storyteller and I like his storytelling.
There's questions left unanswered and I think and hope a next book will be out.
This one is highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The supernatural has always worked well with noir as they are both genres of the night. It is only an undead hop and skip between a detective finding a corpse in the alley and that corpse waking up. Conan Doyle walked the line between the supernatural and the super-real, Holmes always discovered that the mystery was more manmade than on first sight. But what if it was not? Who can solve crimes against the dead better than the dead themselves? In Adam Simcox’s The Generation Killer, the Dying Squad may just be the best team to stop a serial killer from sending more souls their way.

After the events of The Dying Squad, Detective Joe Lazarus has finally found a place for himself. Being a detective in an agency for the dead may have not been what he intended, but it is a great way to clean his soul after years of being a corrupt cop. He is going to need the help of his former partner Daisy-May, as they are coming up against some pure evil. A serial killer is poisoning the oldest and youngest in a family. If that were not enough to deal with, someone is killing the citizens of the underworld and there is a guerrilla army of the undead on the upside who are trying to break the laws between the living and the dead. A typical week for the Dying Squad then.

Joe is a gritty cop trying to make up for his past, so he fits into crime noir perfectly. Manchester above and beyond is also a perfect city for the genre with its looming buildings, history, and penchant for rain. Generation is a great crime noir about cops trying to capture a serial killer, but it is also full of supernatural ideas.
The story is split into three, Joe and his new partner are sent upside to investigate the killer, Daisy-May stays below to investigate more local matters, whilst the Duchess has the most important mission of all, stopping her sister from destroying the world. All three stories run parallel, and it is not until the conclusion that you start to see if they are connected or not.

You can read the book for the crime aspects or the supernatural, both are treated well. The story of the serial killer is dark and twisted. It reads like any other dark novel, but in this case it may be supernatural. We learn more about the underworld in this outing and the consequences of the first book. The world building has really been established and you feel there is a solid base for further investigations in the series.

I enjoyed Generation as both a slice of dark urban fantasy, but also as a slice of dark crime. A mystery is always a terrific way to develop characters, relationships, and structure. Simcox does not only do this once, but across three separate narratives. I would recommend this to urban fantasy lovers as it is squarely in that genre, but there is enough of a mystery here for crime fans to enjoy too.

The supernatural thriller "The Generation Killer" by Adam Simcox blends a serial killer investigation with urban fantasy, and it's the sequel to the much acclaimed novel "The Dying Squad". It continnues the adventures of former detective inspector Joe Lazarus, now dead.

His latest Dying Squad assignment brings Joe Lazarus to Manchester, where a psychopath kills each the oldest and the youngest member of families. He's accompanied by his new partner Bits, since his former partner, Daisy-May took over the Warden-of-the-Pen job from The Dutchess. She's preoccupied by her own problems, because children have gone missing in the afterlife, and she's desperately trying to solve the mystery. She seems to be the only one who's interested in this affair, but her investigation uncovers a conspiracy that threatens not only the afterlife but the living world as well. Her predecessor can’t support her. The Dutchess finally tracked down Hanna, her renagate sister to Tokyo, where she has put up an army of dead people. The Duchess must seek the help of a local detective in order to stop her. In the meantime, Joe and Bits only have hours to solve their case thereby saving the life of a young woman, who might be the next victim of the serial killer. So, time is running short for the Dying Squad.

Even though Adam Simcox novels stand in the tradition of Ben Aaronovitch's "Rivers of London" series, the Dying Squad gives a fresh new apporoach to the urban fantasy genre by incorporating the concept of hell, purgatory and heaven in the idea of crimes defeating the normal police, and a dead detective to handle the problem. In doing so, the author has come up with a complex but internally consistant piece of world building first introduced in his stunning debut.

Picking up the plot where "The Dying Squad" ended, Simcox manages again to tell a gripping, fast paced, creepy, easy to read story, which is full of action, plot twists as well as shocking discoveries. There are many new ideas or funny lines, and the actual detective work comes over as convincing. Like in the first part, Daisy-May is one of the highlight of the novel. Switching between his narative threads, Simcox has created a page turner. Each of the three major storylines could support a book of its own, and whenever the action returned to the afterlife, I could hardly wait for the story to revert to the soil. Manchester has never appeared so dark and gloomy before. The ending delivers a nice kick in the gut.

It's very helpful, but not obligatory to have read "The Dying Squad", but I strongly recommend it. Not only would you miss a great book, if you didn't, but it makes fully understanding "The Generation Killer" much easier, because the novel travels further and deeper into the world Simcox created. It's dark and funny at the same time, still fresh, inventive, and creepy. I will look out for the third installment.

Many thanks to Gollancz and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Meet the Dying Squad - a group of detectives solving mysteries that the living cannot. Detective Joe Lazarus is up against the clock investigating the disappearance of a missing young woman in Manchester. Joe's previous partner Daisy-May is trying to track down children that have gone missing in the afterlife. Meanwhile the Duchess is chasing her sister who is intent on causing even bigger problems.

This is a great story, I have never read anything like it. The mix of crime solving and the supernatural were an excellent combination.

As someone who hasn't read the first book in the series I didn't feel like I was out of the loop, Adam Simcox does a brilliant job at getting you up to speed on who's who.

It is a very fast paced book absolutely packed full of action. I really enjoyed getting to know all of the characters and how they dealt with the challenges they faced.

If you know the brilliant place that is Manchester you will love the references to different parts of the city, and if you don't you will certainly enjoy becoming familiar with it!

I'd recommend this book for a brilliantly written original read.

I’ve reviewed The Generation Killer for book recommendation site LoveReading. I’ve chosen it to feature as a Liz Robinson Pick of the Month. Please see the link for the review.

Absolutely brilliant follow on to the Dying Squad. Daisy May is one of my favourite characters of the past few years, and Joe isn't far behind her. Such a brilliant concept and cleverly constructed world for events to play out in, and I'll 100% be buying the next instalment whenever that comes out!

I'm definitely getting addicted to the series. What a wonderful continuation of The Dying Squad!

The story sends Joe Lazarus and his new partner Bits to the soil. They're chasing a murderer, who's taking the oldest and the youngest of a family, poisoning them with radiation. The media called him the Generation Killer.

Daisy-May is stuck in the Pen, she's trying to find out who's kidnapping the Dispossessed's children. Kids are disappearing, rumours about the woman without a glimmer spread, and it takes a Warden to find the truth.

While The Duchess is following her crazy sister Hannah on the soil, trying to stop her from committing the unforgivable crimes. After almost destroying all existence, Hannah has a mission which will be disastrous for those who are still alive.

The cases seem to be disconnected at first, the plotting is perfect, and when everything comes together it's a big wow! I didn't want the book to end, and at the same time I didn't want to stop reading. It's a fascinating story with really well-built characters.

Mixing crime with a fantasy and dystopian is a perfect combination for me - engrossing and unique.

THE ENDING! I have *so many* questions! And I truly hope that the next book will be released soon!

I said it about The Dying Squad and I'll say it about The Generation Killer - I'd love to see them on the big screen, or as a Netflix original series.
I can't wait to see what Adam comes up with next!

This was different from the usual books I read, but after reading this I may have to expand my choices. The descriptive writing meant I could see the characters in my mind. The mixture of thriller and ghost story was combined so the story flowed. I did find I had to concentrate in the beginning, but that could be because my son kept interrupting me. A completely different book, but enjoyable reading

This felt to me, very original. But didn't speak to my personal taste so I image that many other readers would enjoy some of the things I struggled with.

The Dying Squad is a great concept, as is the quest to bring to justice The Generation Killer. To have elements of true originality as well as a clever plot and varied characters - is quite rare for books in this genre.

Although the characters were likeable, I did find the cast quite hard to stay on top of, and for me that was a distraction.

This book should have been everything I love, wit, police procedural, something novel and good characters - but for some reason it didn't gel.

That said, I will give this another read in the future because I suspect I haven't quite done it justice right now.

Everyone knows God didn’t create Manchester it was actually the unused parts of Birmingham 😉 another great story in this work with Joe being Joe in his usual inimitable style, it would help if you had read the first book but I would not say it’s a prerequisite as the book is a damned good read regardless

I really liked this book, it was well written with a compelling and engaging plot and well developed characters. It was fast paced and full of tension that created suspense, twists and unpredictability that kept me guessing. I really enjoyed it.