Johannes Cabal the Detective (Johannes Cabal Series) Paperback – July 12, 2011

When I learned that the Author was deeply involved in the creation of one of my favorite adventure game of all time ("Broken Sword"), well I just had to see what his novels were all about. I was not disappointed. In this sequel, we find Jonathan Cabal, necromancer extraordinaire, aboard a Zeppelin attempting to escape with his life following some debacle (nothing new for Cabal) over a forbidden book. I enjoyed the 1st book, Necromancer immensely, but here the author seems to master his craft and is clearly at the top of his game delivering high adventure that manages to be very well written and entertaining with compelling characters (not a small feat in this genre). From the plot's high intrigue and the delightful tension between the intelligent and conflicted ms Barrow and Cabal's drive to see all things to the end, this book makes for the most entertaining read of the year for me. I like what one of the other reviewer said, the story telling is never rushed, yet absolutely compels you to read on. I savored it like a fine wine and cannot wait for Cabal, should he survive in the interim, to return.

Johannes Cabal; a necromancer of some infamy; often finds himself on the run from one individual or another. This time however, he’s on the run from the local government.Having stolen the identity of a minor bureaucrat, Cabal takes passage on the Princess Hortense; a passenger airship that is leaving the country (and his enemies) behind. Cabal’s deception seems perfect and as he looks forward to a quiet trip, his plans are dashed when he comes face to face with someone he’d thought left behind. It is the one woman to ever match wits with him, and could potentially blow his cover – Leonie Barrow.When a fellow passenger appears to throw himself to his death, Cabal’s curiosity gets the better of him and he investigates. His minor efforts result in an attempt on his own life, and then the gloves come off.Cabal must swallow his price (to an extent) and reluctantly team up with Leonie to discover the murderer. And in the process, discover the secrets within the Princess Hortense herself.The Detective is the second book in the Johannes Cabal series. I read and reviewed the first book earlier last year and decided to give the second book a go.As much as I enjoyed the first book, I sadly cannot say the same of the second. While Cabal was still his brash self, he didn’t have as an effective foil as he did in the first book. Here we have Leonie Barrow; and while she is a decent partner to Cabal, she unfortunately doesn’t hold a candle to Cabal’s brother from the first book.The story itself was also a tad disappointing. There were some points where it just seemed to drag along, not quite sure where it was going. It was as if the story were like the Princess Hortense herself, just drifting along with no real heading.Several flashback scenes offer us a more detailed look in to Cabal’s past and give us a better idea of the man he used to be. I personally would enjoy seeing more that that man in upcoming books.A decent addition to the Johannes Cabal series, I found The Detective to be fairly amusing. Readers who enjoyed the first book should give this one a try. I myself am looking forward to the third book, to reading and to reviewing.

I loved the first book. Cabal is certainly no hero but book one was a fun, dark, and riveting tale. I was certainly not expecting book two to throw him into political intrigue and a murder mystery, excellent sophomore effort and I highly recommend this book.

I am a huge fan of the wily necromancer's first adventure with his brother the vampire Horst and their traveling carnival of collecting damned souls for the devil. This time out, Johannes Cabal has just stolen a rare book on the subject of necromancy from a library in the land of Mirkavia. The Mirkavian government is none to happy about this and has imprisioned Cabal and has given him a death sentence. The razor sharp Cabal makes a deal with a shady Count named Marechal to revive their recently deceased King to prevent the Mirkavian people from revolting. Johannes in his true fashion resurrects the King, but adds his own twisted touch to cause a big distraction to make his escape. Johannes bests the count, causes a revolution and assumes the identity of a government clerk to escape the country on an airship. Here is where the real fun begins. Johannes false identity is right away put in jeopardy by a person from his past. The daughter of a wise lawman who does not like Johannes very much is by chance a passenger on this flight. Also there is a mysterious murder that vexes Johannes sense of understanding the unexplained. Johannes reluctantly takes up the cause of rooting out the murderer as the bodies disappear and pile up all while flying over enemy territory and trying to keep his true identity a secret, being he is a necromancer of no little infamy. I really loved the first book and the second is easily on par with the first. I really enjoy Johannes despicable nature, simple solutions to those who annoy him and razor sharp wit. I look forward to reading The Fear Institute and highly recommend this series to anyone.

The second book did not disappoint. The storyline was interesting and I enjoyed the humour. looking forward to reading the 3rd installment.

Lo recibí nuevo en su paquete, lo cual fue un plus porque generalmente ya vienen sin su plastico cuando son libros en inglés, que decir?es el único libro que me faltaba para leerme toda la serie, pero no lo podía encontrar, no estaba barato pero no tan Caro, además ya no importó realmente tengo desde el 2017 queriendo tener todos los libros de esta serie (yo me los leo cuando están todos juntos).

Sherlock has met his match with this witty adventure. Could it be that Johannes is sweet on someone? This second adventure of the series is very difficult to put down.

Evil Dead 2, Godfather 2, The Empire Strikes Back ... and now Johannes Cabal the Detective.Sequels that go one louder than the original.The first volume, "Johannes Cabal the Necromancer", is pretty good, but I haven't enjoyed reading a book as much as "Johannes Cabal the Detective" in what seems like a very long time.I think it's incredibly difficult to hit the right tone with a cod-historical story, which is one of the problems in the previous book, but everything from style to content and pace is absolutely on the mark in "Johannes Cabal the Detective" from the very first page. I gather author Jonathan L Howard is relatively well-known for writing the narrative content of video games, which I've never had the hand-to-eye co-ordination or patience to play. Wherever he's been sharpening the skills for lean, clear prose, good dialogue and page-turning story momentum it all comes to fruition here. I wouldn't be surprised if what follows is a graduation to big-money script-writing - and why not, if Jonathan Ross's wife can do it - because everything is informed by a very cinematic sensibility.The plot is a neat twist on a conventional Agatha Christie murder mystery, although possibly more the movie adaptations than the original novels. For reasons set up in a funny and action-packed preamble our hero is on the run from a hostile government, ironically disguised as one of their low-level civil servants. He tries to escape on a slow-moving airship cruiser, joined by a standard Christie passenger-list of ex-officers, genteel businesspeople, retired industrialists, and a couple of younger men and women of middle and upper class. Murders happen, both in flight and when the ship makes a port of call, people are dangled off various bits of the airship, plots are exposed and sundry characters are revealed to be what not they originally seemed.The basic story framework is steampunk, although to his credit Jonathan L Howard avoids the genre's more ridiculous and literally steam-driven extremes. It's set in a broadly Victorian or Edwardian era, although as with the first book there's also a strong hint of England in the 1950s. Improbably advanced technology exists, and key elements like the ley-line driven anti-gravity airships and the insect-originated "entomopter" light aircraft are explained in playful 50s-era Eagle comic style articles with cutwaway diagrams.The nods to Eagle are joined with a much more explicit homage to the template for Johannes Cabal's character and "day job", Jeffery Combs's performance as antihero Herbert West in the Re-Animator movies. Some reviewers don't like the Cabal character because he's rude, anti-social and frequently homicidal. All I can say is, I'm sorry, because that means you won't ever enjoy the Re-Animator movies either. For everyone else able to appreciate the joke, Cabal is a loveably arrogant and single-minded agent of chaos motivated by a desire to do something ultimately good and make death redundant. He's just too busy following his own sense of the right thing to do - which most often seems to mean save his own skin - to wait for the rest of the world's moral framework to catch up. I know it's risky these days to attach Mel Gibson's name to anything, but it's exactly what made the title character work so well in the second Mad Max movie.Just to be clear, drawing connections to other characters I've been fond of for years is my idea of high praise indeed.Pacing is one of the great indefinables of good genre writing, like lean and transparent prose and the ability to follow the trope where appropriate and step back when it's not. I can't over-state how well-paced and well-written this book is. Any unoriginal ideas are used knowingly, with a deft polish and fresh spin. The "murder cruise" plot is simple, elegant and brilliant. The sequences on the ground in deftly-sketched period movie versions of Germany and Italy are appropriately comic, exciting and touching. The moral and non-specific sexual tension between Johannes Cabal and sometime sidekick, sometime nemesis Leonie Barrow sparkles like early Moonlighting or the episodes of the Rockford Files with a really good part for Stuart Margolin as Angel. Yes, I know they're both guys, it's a relationship thing not a sex thing.It's probably possible to over-praise this novel, but honestly I don't think I've done it yet - it really is that good.

The second instalment of the Cabal stories fills in a few more details and gives you a better view into the repercussions of a monomaniacal moral compass. A fun read too!

It takes a little time to get into faux Victorian prose, but when you Herr Cabal's second tale fairly rips along. Like a slightly off kilter Agatha Christie novel it reads like a strange detective novel in a slightly changed parallel turn of the century universe. In Howard's first Cabal novel the protagonist was a bit annoying and overly self serving, but there was just enough interesting ideas to draw the reader back in. The 2nd in the series gives him a little (although not a lot) more humanity that just brings him to the right side of sympathetic.The little post credits add-on is also a lovely touch. Equally amusing and entertaining.I look forward to meeting Herr/Mr Cabal again.