City of the Lost

* ebook
* Print

## POV Information

**Gender**
**Char Name**

Male
Joe Sunday

**City of the Lost** — Stand Alone — by Stephen Blackmoore. This book is prequel to the Eric Carter series.

## Book Cover

Joe Sunday has been a Los Angeles low-life for years, but his life gets a whole lot lower when he is killed by the rival of his crime boss-only to return as a zombie. His only hope is to find and steal a talisman that he learns can grant immortality. But, unfortunately for Joe, every other undead thug and crime boss in Los Angeles is looking for the same thing.

## Book Description

### Themes

* Standing up to power, doing the right thing, figuring out which hand is holding the knife

This is an urban fantasy/horror novel set on the dark and dangerous streets of Los Angeles. The hero—or anti-hero—is Joe Sunday, and he’s definitely not a nice guy. Joe is a mob enforcer—a cold-blooded killer who has done horrible things to both men and women: breaking legs and fingers, shooting out kneecaps, and even setting a man on fire. When Joe’s boss, Simon, sends him to retrieve a valuable gemstone from a former associate, Joe views it as an easy assignment. What he doesn’t realize is that Sandro Giavetti is not your average human gangster. Long story short, Joe is murdered and then brought back to life as a non-breathing, super-strong zombie who will "live" forever if he consumes a human heart every day to keep his body from rotting away.

### **Supernatural Elements**

✥ Zombies, bruja (witch), Nazi doctor, supe ganster, supe mob, vampires, demons, witches and wizards, sorcerer.

* bruja (aka witch),
* Nazi doctor who shoots flame from his fingertips,
* a razor-toothed midget,
* a bar-tending demon,
* an immortal woman,

### World

✥ Joe realizes what has happened to him: “My world drops out from under me. I tell myself that I don’t feel any different, only I do. My lungs, the missing aches and pains, my blown-out knee. I peel back one of the bandages on my sliced up hands. The cuts are gone. My body feels like somebody’s thrown the off switch but forgot to tell me about it.” (p. 27) Here, Joe goes on to explain how he feels about his new existence: “There’s that empty feeling, like I’ve been ripped open and hollowed out. I’m Pinocchio in reverse. The real boy turned into a wooden puppet.” (p. 35) The only thing that will save Joe from this horrific existence is to gain possession of Giavetti’s gemstone. He’ll never get his human life back, but if he has the stone, his body will remain “human.”

### Protagonist

✥ Joe Sunday wasn't a nice guy before being made a zombie and dying didn't help his manners. He kills and bludgeons his way through this tale, all in pursuit of a stone that may or may not be able to turn him back into a human and Giavetti, the man who covets it.

✥ Joe thinks its a run-of-the-mill job, until he ends up dead . . . and is brought back to life by the man he was supposed to kill using the stone. Now, in order to keep from rotting and eating people's hearts to rejuvenate himself, Joe needs the stone. With it, he won't need to kill to stay in one piece. All he has to do is find it and keep his hands on it, which is harder than it seems since it appears everyone with any magical talent whatsoever in the LA area is out to get it.

## References

1. ↑ Fang-tastic Fiction: "City of the Lost"
2. ↑ Goodreads reader
3. ↑ Goodreads reader