Overall impression An exceptional book with exceptional characters and a slang making you think: Well, the editor was totally drunk! This book took time adjusting to it, but it was totally worth it. Dark, desolate, cold are the first impressions of the described world. Chess Putnam, the female protagonist, is a drug addict (and the author is not shy describing her condition). The drug addiction was one of the reason for my hesitation in the beginning. But the story pulls me in pretty fast. The "relationship" (if you could call it that) between Chess and Terrible - and yes that's his name and he lives up to his name - is unexpected and surprising. Terrible, a professional thug for the local drug lord, shows a very careful - even tender - side, totally unexpected and antithetic to the world in which they live. This books sucks you in a dark world of viscous ghosts. It's absolutely worth reading! Recommend to Everyone who likes dark urban fantasy with defective characters, but therefore even more plausible and likable. And it's definitely refreshing, that the male protagonist is not the unbelievably sexy and irresistible man. I wouldn't recommend it to teenagers under 18, because of several references to sex, rape and violence, a graphic sex scene and detailed descriptions of injuries, violence, death and drug abuse.