Sam LaCroix is a smart-mouthed college drop-out whose life is going nowhere. He works at the local burger joint and his biggest dreams are to win at carpark potato-hockey and maybe get rostered onto the grill every now and again. But he's got his friends from work and things are pretty chill. Until, in a potato-hockey incident gone wrong, he draws the attention of the biggest, baddest necromancer around. And the necromancer wants him as an apprentice or else.
It's a pretty rocking book. I accidentally stayed up till 3am reading it, so it definitely grabbed my attention. There are some pretty unexpected twists in the early stages, but then it smooths out and you just enjoy the ride. Refreshingly, the fate of the world is not at stake. It's just a kid fighting to survive and to protect the ones he loves as best as he can. It doesn't fall into the trap that most modern-setting fantasy/horror falls into where people are overly reliant on magic to the extent that they entirely forget about some pretty basic modern tools of communication. You know what saves the day in urban fantasy? It's not the werewolves, it's not the necromancers, it's not the witches. Its the redial function on your mobile phone. Harry Potter could have been one book long. He could have killed Voldemort and been back in time for the end of year feast if he'd had Dumbledore on speed-dial.