My book club read this novel as the last of our summer genre series. We were reading it as a part of the horror genre, but it is a who-dunnit mystery as well. The only difference is, instead of your typical Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot type crimes, this novel involves ghosts, demons, zombies, and succubi! However, the story still has a very strong human element. Mike Carey's version of the detective is an exorcists with a sarcastic sense of humor and a very real sense of guilt. He also has a questionable moral compass at first, and must learn a few lessons along the way. The human characters in this novel were very believable and fully explored. Even some of the ghosts and other supernatural creatures were well-rounded characters. All in all this was a very entertaining and, at times, compelling read. I couldn't put it down.