Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

 

This was a pretty interesting novel, pretty enjoyable. In the same way that Lock In and Head On are Scalzi dressing up pretty straightforward Noirish mystery in SF dress, Magic for Liars is a pretty straightforward mystery in Modern Fantasy dress. There are a few premise-level things about the novel that don't hold up to a lot of close scrutiny, but it's possible to just accept them and enjoy the story Gailey has to tell. The prose is appropriately snappish, the characters are nicely drawn (especially the POV). The motivation, which is played up as though it's a big twist, I saw coming like fifty or a hundred pages ahead, but that's not really snark--it's more likely to be a combination of authorial fair play and how my brain works. Not deathless, but a real step up from last night's book.