Two and Half Dead Men by Jason Krumbine

This a book about two father dysfunctional brothers who are grim reapers. I was actually pretty intrigued by the concept of this book because I was a huge fan of the show Dead Like Me back in the day which was also about grim reapers, and also had a kind of dry humor through it.

This book for me was kind of a mixed bag, some of the elements were good and some felt like they needed more work. There were several grammatical errors along the way, especially with misspelling words or putting "is" instead of "it". I think most of these problems could have been fixed by having someone who had never read the story before go through and circle the mistakes. Normally I do overlook grammar mistakes, because frankly I make them too (and I have probably made my fair share of them on this very blog), but I found one or two per chapter, and it got kind of annoying.

The author also appears to be a big fan of rather simple sentences. On the plus side since the vast majority of the sentences are simple, there are no punctuation problems. The problem with that, especially when we get to dialogue is that it doesn't feel natural. People speak in complex sentences, sometimes people speak in crazy run on sentences. So the words on the page didn't always feel organic.

On the plus side I have no problem seeing the two main characters as brothers. Thane and Mort have the kind of banter you would expect from brothers, and even when they resort to conversations about who was dad's favorite, it is very believable that they are brothers. And while they may be brothers, they are very opposite of each other. Thane is put together and professional, and Mort well he is messy, not exactly professional, and has serious accountability issues (particularly with a certain bookie).

Another thing I like about the book is the humor. The book definitely has a dry humor about it. I don't always agree with what the subject of the humor is (the author tends to quite a few shots at gay people), but the humor is consistent throughout the story, and doesn't drop off. In fact of all the elements of this story, I think the humor is the thing that is going to make people identify with it and want to read it.

Overall, I think the book is okay. It wasn't a bad book, it didn't make me want to stop reading it. But at the same time it didn't compel me to keep reading either. I think this book is more for those who are looking for a book with snarky dry humor with a urban fantasy element.