Dirty Magic: An entertaining set-up novel

Dirty Magic by Jaye Wells

Dirty Magic tells the story of Kate Prospero, a woman with plenty of baggage to lug around as she struggles through life taking care of her teenaged brother and barely making ends meet. Slowly Wells reveals the fictional (somewhat superheroish) city of Babylon, and as Kate is fleshed out, her history (much of which remains a mystery) is also deliciously divulged to readers. In fact, it’s probably the pacing in regards to world building and character development that really makes Dirty Magic shine. Things aren’t revealed all at once, or even all in this novel. Instead, the foundation is set and enough questions are answered that will satisfy readers, but readers will have to work for those answers, which makes them so much sweeter.

Dirty Magic is an interesting mix of police procedural and personal drama. Usually I sort of turn off with police procedural, but Kate is an interesting character, and her past is unique enough to lend her an interesting perspective to what is happening. These two things work together to ensure that readers who might be turned off by police work might find themselves engaged despite themselves. However, the mystery is nicely balanced with Kate’s own personal issues, which she struggles with as the case unfolds and gets personal. All of this works nicely together to make Dirty Magic absolutely surprising and addictive.

Dirty Magic isn’t just propelled by Kate and her police buddies against the world, but Wells fills the book with some fascinating secondary characters, from Kate’s friend who acts as the voice of reason, to her neighbor Baba, the old wise woman/batty neighbor, and some absolutely fascinating characters that Kate hits up for information on occasion. The secondary characters really add a unique, almost gritty feel to the novel which it would have otherwise lacked, and they make Kate’s life, and Babylon itself, seem so much more interesting and dynamic. These secondary characters really make Babylon, and the story, feel real and present readers with some interesting dynamics that can be both humorous and personal at the same time.

With all of that said, you might be wondering just what would hold me back from giving this book a raving five star review. Despite how wonderful it was, and no matter how much it scratched my itch at the right moment, Dirty Magic is the first book in a series, and it very much feels like it. Entertaining? Yes. Unique? Yes. Characters you can love? Of course. However, I never could move beyond the fact that Dirty Magic feels like more of a set up to the rest of the series rather than a book that can stand on its own legs. In fact, when I really think about it, I loved this book so much because I’m excited about what will happen next, not necessarily because of all of the things that happened here (though I did love all of those things).

Dirty Magic got my attention. Wells told a hell of an entertaining story in a fascinatingly unique world populated with very real characters that are easy to care about. Yes, this novel felt more like a setup for the rest of the series than anything else, but as far as setups go, this is probably one of the most entertaining ones I have ever read.