Dead Set

Dead Set
by Richard Kadrey
New York: Harper Voyager
2013
307 pages


I found this book in the adult section of my public library, but it seems to be a teen crossover book.

This is the story of Zoe, a teen whose family has fallen apart. Her father died unexpectedly, and her mother is left with the problems of dealing with insurance companies who say he never existed. The pair have had to move several times and are struggling to make ends meet while Zoe's mother tries to find a job and straighten out the insurance troubles. Zoe is left on her own to grieve, and her escape is found in recurrent dreams of a brother she never knew, named Valentine, who takes her to a pleasant place, up high in a tree house, where they can talk about her feelings and their father.

One day, Zoe finds life at the new school so intolerable that she leaves and wanders the streets, only to discover a small record shop called "Ammut Records, Rare, Used & Lost". There, she meets Emmett, a strange man who runs the empty, rundown store. He follows her into a back room where there are unusual records that turn out to be recordings of the lives of dead people. Emmett hooks Zoe up to a machine called an Animagraph. Zoe is fascinated as she watches and relives moments in the life of a young woman who had died recently, actually being the woman and experiencing her feelings and thoughts.

We can guess where this is going now. Emmett reveals that he has a recording of Zoe's father, so of course Zoe wants to experience it. This is where the story gets creepier. Emmett tells Zoe that she can view her father's recording but for a price, a lock of hair. Zoe does and learns about how her parents met, her father's job, and her father's last minutes. She is heartbroken at the end and wants more. Is it possible to speak to her father? Emmett says yes, for a price.

Warning sirens should be going off now for the reader. Any time the price for something involves something personal, such as a lock of hair, piece of fingernail, or drop of blood, you have to know that it won't be a good idea to pay. Valentine also tells Zoe not to do it, but Zoe is hurting too much from the death of her father and wants to see him, no matter the cost. She is not totally stupid, though, and tries to trick Emmett, but in the end it doesn't quite work the way she wants.

The next part of the story reminds me of several stories, including Suzanne Collins' Gregor the Overlander and Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. Zoe follows Emmett from the store, hoping to find out where he keeps her father's recording so she can take it for herself, but he leads her down under the street and through the sewer tunnels. There she descends into a strange place called Iphigene. I won't go into detail but we have been to Iphigene previously, but it did not look like this. Everything now is dark, dank, and decaying.

3-Headed Hecate

The inhabitants, all dead, are dejected and in the power of a queen so terrible and ruthless that there is no hope. Zoe learns most of the story of the queen's arrival and subjugation of the residents from her brother Valentine, who also does not resemble the brother of her dreams but rather a patchwork robot, pieced together with spare parts of metal discarded from broken machinery.

This story blends fantasy, horror, and mythology into an intriguing tale. The queen, we discover, is Hecate, a Greek deity known for her connection to crossroads, death, and witchcraft. Her son in this book, is Emmet--really Ammut, an Egyptian female deity, the devourer of hearts, soul-eater, and the embodiment of everything Egyptians feared about death. Although these two deities come from different traditions, their powerful connection to death explains their presence in this story.

Ammut is waiting to see if the soul Anubis weighs will be her next meal.

I would recommend this story for older teens, maybe 15 and up, who like retro culture and may also have an interest in the mythological aspects of this story.