Priest of Bones – Peter McLean
The world of Peter McLean’s Priest of Bones is a harsh and brutal one and there aren’t too many good people to be found there. Thomas Piety might be a priest but that doesn’t mean much here, and the first few pages alone quickly make it apparent that he can be as ruthless and quick to use his swords as any man. And he’s going to need to be. Piety, his brother Jochen and his small band of soldiers have just returned from the wars and he has business affairs to take control of again back home in Ellingburg. And it’s not God’s business. Not to put too fine a point on it, the family’s business involves running whorehouses, taverns and a protection racket for the small businesses in the district of Ellingburg known as the Stink. The ‘Pious Men’ are gangsters. Much has changed since they went off to fight in the war, changed in relation to the horrors they witnessed during the war, but also in Ellingburgh where the families ‘interests’ now lies in the hands of others. That’s not a good comb...