Michele Lee

Review by M.A. Hunt

Any Given Doomsday, by Lori Handeland, is the first book in her The Phoenix Chronicles series.

Elizabeth Phoenix is a young ex-cop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, now working in the bar owned by her deceased partner’s wife, Megan Murphy… Murphy’s Bar, of course.

This is a small indication of the kind of wit Handeland brings to this tale.

Phoenix has some latent psychic powers, aided and abetted to partial fruition by two not-quite-human men, Jimmy Sanducci, whom she’s known since childhood, and Sawyer, a Navajo witch, and a dead mentor, Ruthie Kane, who is very much from the same vein as the guide in the Matrix Trilogy, of popular film.

A wonderful romp of a novel, filled with things from the underworld, and beyond, written by a highly intelligent author.

Unfortunately, it’s not until chapter 23 that the real story begins.

The first 22 chapters are mostly filled with fluff, aka ‘back story’, which she would have been better off disseminating in dribs and drabs throughout, as she unfolded the tale, rather than bunch it all upfront.

From there on, Handeland shows considerable and impressive talent in the progression of the tale, even if some of her obvious wit becomes a tad tedious, but it’s a compelling, page-turning read.

If the blurb for the next book is any indication, Doomsday Can Wait promises to be a continuation of very strong storytelling.