Review: Paranormal as normal - a tale of demons and dead people...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 4, 2013
Dead Man and the Restless Spirits is a new, and welcome, kind of paranormal m/m romance - both the gay romance and the paranormal world are taken for granted.  I see more and more books in this vein, and like it.This is not an emotional romance - but a slow-build buddy book in which a little background magic and intersecting talents bring two very different guys together.  I liked that it wasn't all storm and sob - I liked that it is the skinny techno-geek, Denton, who figures out the dark and mysterious (but distant and cold) Bran's secret - and thus breaks down a wall that has been making him unhappy.  I liked that Denton's best friend and business partner, Joy, is clueless about the paranormal world - a world in which non-human folk live their lives largely without conflict in the mainstream.  There's a lot of potential for future stories here - and since the books ends without one key romance feature (not telling), I know this means Lou has another one with this duo in store for us.Harper writes well - sets the scene well, and keeps the narrative seasoned with humor and emotional authenticity. There was only one scene - a paranormal one - that really moved me to tears - but even that is OK, because not every book needs to make me cry over the main characters' messed-up relationship.  Bran's mother, Denton's friends, and the other off-stage and (so far) unseen non-humans all make me want to revisit this world of Chicago that is almost like the city I know, but not quite.