Title: Peril in the Old Country
(Terribly Serious Darkness – Book 1)
Author: Sam Hooker
Genre: Dark Fantasy / Satire
Pages: 312
Rating: 4
Future Release Date: 6/5/18 (thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free eARC – this in no way affects the content of the review)

Sloot Peril the accountant is a nervous/befuddled/pathetic character on the order of Arthur Dent or Rincewind the Wizard, and he lives in a world that sounds like 1984 as written by Terry Pratchett who has just read a bunch of dark fantasy (be careful which characters you get emotionally attached to). Poor Sloot, the most law-abiding of citizens, renders great service to an important man (correcting an accounting report that implied he wasn’t so rich that he didn’t have to count his money) and is plunged into a world of plots within plots.

The characters are ridiculous, the situations are absurd, and the narration is hilarious and snarky (beware if you are easily offended by something you value being satirized). This was on it’s way to being a 4.5 to 5 star book, but the end really annoyed me. There are plot unveilings, deaths, swearing (e.g. “the one that rhymes with elbow” or “the one that starts with m and refers to the face you make right before sneezing”), true love…and then the book ends before we find out how the situation resolves…I hate that kind of cliffhanger ending. If you’re a good author you don’t need to string me along like that! You should be able to offer some resolution and still keep my interest. It annoyed me so much that I almost dropped this clear down to 3 stars, but I had too much fun overall to do that.