Review: Off With Their Heads by Justin Schuelke

Title: Off With Their Heads

Series: The Incarnate Accounts: Book Four

Author: Justin Schuelke

Length: 373 Pages

Category: Urban Fantasy

Rating: 5 Stars

At a Glance: There doesn’t seem to be much in Justin Schuelke’s imagination that can’t take on a mind and life of its own, making this one of the most unique endeavors in storytelling I’ve ever encountered.

Reviewed By: Lisa

Blurb: Is a murder-free vacation too much to ask for?

It’s the third anniversary of the Ahedrian murders, and Emery Luple is back in Manhattan facing his most daunting task yet: meeting Caden’s moms. All six of them. And right on cue, the decapitations start… again. It might be where he met the love of his life, but Emery is ready to be done with New York.

Too bad New York isn’t done with him.

Headless bodies show up wherever Emery goes, and he sees the ghost of a former enemy everywhere he looks. All signs point to an impossibility: the Ahedrian incarnate. As they race to uncover the truth, the murders keep coming—and with every head that rolls, death gets that much closer to Emery… and Caden.

Review: It was a dark and stormy night becomes a character unto itself in this installment of the Incarnate Accounts series. Which makes absolute sense if you’re familiar with Justin Schuelke’s methods and the context of his world-building. There doesn’t seem to be much in his imagination that can’t take on a mind and life of its own, making this one of the most unique endeavors in storytelling I’ve ever encountered.

Emery Luple is the Protagonist incarnate, but that doesn’t make him the Protagonist invincible, not in the slightest. That honor belongs to the Author incarnate, the puppet master, the unseen being who’s pulling all the strings and driving the story to its highest highs and its lowest lows, a concept I love not only for its singularity but because it’s so offbeat. Nowhere else have I run into Humpty Dumpty and the Gargoyle incarnate in the same plot to solve a murder mystery, and I have doubts I’ll ever see it again because Schulke has stamped his ownership on the concept of personifying legend and lore, not simply the well-known characters but the sheer spectacle of their influence on what the Author incarnate can do with, and to, them.

Off With Their Heads blends the fantastical with the mundane when Emery and Caleb, the Guardian Angel incarnate and the love of Emery’s life, head to New York so Emery can meet all SIX of Caleb’s moms. They’ve finally reached the meet-the-parents stage of their relationship, though it’s realistically a bit past-due. And New York holds some not-so-great memories for the guys in terms of the last murders they investigated there. Worse than Emery wanting to impress Caleb’s moms, though, is the headless murder victims being found across the city in what should be impossible ways, not to mention the clues pointing to an improbable suspect.

Emery and Caleb go through some things in their quest to bring a killer to justice, despite the help they have on their side. Or seem to have on their side. Honestly, it was sometimes difficult to tell which side the Author incarnate was on, but all was well in the end. There were some nice twists in the tale and an as-yet reanimated Antagonist incarnate who will be back and ready to give the guys more than a little trouble. There is no telling who Justin Schuelke could pull out of his proverbial hat to challenge the guys next, but I now know who it won’t be. At least not for another 1,001 nights.

You can buy Off With Their Heads here:
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