Cursed Words by I.D. Russell

I’m in two minds with Cursed Words. I absolutely love Frank! He’s so much fun to read, and I love his dialogue. He’s a mix of traditional noir detective and goofy slapstick private eye and it makes him a great character.

I’m really confused about what was going on though. I feel like I had a fever dream and the details are all jumbled around. Was Dex just hallucinating everything that happened? Was any of it real? Who got killed and when? How much time passed? I feel like I need someone to SparkNotes this as a supplement so I know what’s going on.

It was a little hard for me to get invested in the characters because I’m not entirely sure that they even existed. It’s a pity about Ariel, if she was even a person, because I liked her with Dex. But I’m not overly sure that they even hooked up so I don’t know if I’m upset at the missed opportunity or not.

I’m also not sure where this is in Frank’s timeline. I assumed after Under Blood Lake because I don’t remember him having a partner then, but Frank doesn’t really mention anything about experiencing weird things before so maybe it was before that one and something happened to Jimmy that he wasn’t in Under Blood Lake?

I’ll give this a 2.5. I’m just too confused by everything to give this anything higher. Thank you, Ian, for providing me a copy!