Capac Raimi arrives in the City full of ambition. He intends to make a name for himself in his Uncle Theo’s protection business. And, as he always knew he would, Capac turns out to be good at it. He loves the seedy side of the City and he has no compunction in using any dirty tricks to climb the gangster ladder. Capac’s ultimate aim is to work directly for the Cardinal, the City’s godfather. The Cardinal is the City and the City is the Cardinal. But when Capac finally gets his wish, things start to unravel.
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IT’S true that you can’t tell a book by it’s cover. Actually, scrub that. Most of the time you can do just that. If the picture on the dust jacket happens to show a gorgeous gal kitted out in suspenders, sprawled over a four-poster and brandishing a family-sized jar of peanut butter… Well, you don’t have to glance at the title to know you aren’t about to snuggle down with Little Women.
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Something nasty in the City

DB Shan is the not very well disguised alias of prolific award-winning children’s author Darren Shan – but you wouldn’t want your kids reading this.

Bringing his dark side well to the fore he revels in this strangely magical and mysterious but compelling and well-disguised horror story.
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Whilst I have already broken my record for books read in a year with the Night Watch trilogy I came across this and read it the other day.

I don’t know the author but I believe he wrote this some time ago and has rewritten it (sort of directors cut) and republished. The author is a well known fantasy writer aimed at the children’[s market.
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I have read all of Shan’s book. Therefore buying this book was going to happen no matter what. As the first adult book I have read by Shan I was not sure if i was going to like it. I loved it. The story is gripping and although predictable in places, kept me reading to the end and left me wondering what’s going to happen. The nameless city Shan has created is full of life and full of secrets. 5 stars….especially if you’re a shan fan.

http://www.kaboodle.com/reviews/procession-of-the-dead–the-city-trilogy-book-1

THE FIRST Darren O’Shaughnessy novel came out in 1999, subtitled The City: Book One, but there was no sequel: by the following year the writer had become Darren Shan, author and eponymous hero of a best-selling vampire saga for younger readers. Now, “extensively revised,” his debut reappears as Procession of the Dead by D.B. Shan. The new byline is an uneasy compromise: the publisher’s desire to keep the bestselling “brand” in conflict with a recognition that this explicit, brutal fantasy was not written for children.
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I’d expected to get a bit of reviewing done yesterday, but then someone informed me that it was in fact St. Patrick’s Day, and, rather than celebrating (as everyone, Irish and non-Irish does) with copious amounts of alcohol, I was expected to celebrate my father’s birthday instead. Slightly taken aback at this ridiculous tradition, I needed a gritty, dark, urban fantasy to set me back on the straight and narrow…
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Some people leave home and go off to college, others exit the nest to pursue a new career. In Capac Raimi’s case, it’s a bit of both, as he steps off a train in a large, unnamed city to be schooled in his chosen line of work as a gangster.
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Procession of the Dead is the latest novel from Darren O’Shaughnessy, writing under the pen name D B Shan. O’Shaughnessy is one of Ireland’s most successful genre authors - his children’s fantasy and horror series The Saga Of Darren Shan and The Demonata are on sale in 35 countries and in 28 languages.
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This is Darren Shan’s first foray into adult fiction, and to be honest, I’m not as comfortable with it as I am with his young adult stuff. Procession of the Dead is a manuscript he wrote long before his current run of outstanding success, and I don’t think it’s as good, frankly. Readable, but it doesn’t grip you in the same way.

Reviewed by Paul Edmund Norman

http://www.gatewaymonthly.com/fantasy.html