Hold Me Closer, Necromancer

Once in a while a book comes along that is so well written, so bitingly funny, and so innovative you find yourself simultaneously wanting to savor each line and speed read through it because the action never slows down.  I also know when I really enjoy a book because I'm making a movie of it in my head as I read it.  Obviously, this was one of those books for me...

Sam, or Samhain (prounced Sowin) Corvus LaCroix has a pretty fancy sounding name but he feels extremely ordinary. And yet, he feels that he has never really fit in anywhere, except with his mom & sister and best friend Ramon.  Unfortunately for Sam, his ordinary fast-food job, college-drop out life is about to become the furthest thing from ordinary.  With a sudden and rather violent warning, Sam finds out that he is a necromancer.  And the other necromancer in the area, a complete power-hungry jerk named Douglas Montgomery, would like Sam to, ahem, go away....and I don't mean move, I mean die.  So what's a boy to do when captured by said jerky necromancer and thrown into a cage with a gorgeous girl/werewolf/fey hound hybrid, especially when you don't know how to use your powers?  In short, try to survive and escape.

Just to give you an example of how witty this writing is, allow me to quote my most favorite two sentences.  I'll set it up for you....A severed head, who's owner Sam knows well, is delivered to his apartment and starts talking to him. He's a little afraid and grabs something from the kitchen as a defense, but then he starts to calm down..."I put the butter knife down. I was still freaked out of my mind, yes, but over that lay a thin patina of shame."

Fair warning: there is some implied sex.  Though you don't read about the "during," you know it's coming and you know it's happened.  Very few reviews other than mine, except this one, say anything about it and most librarians actually need to know these things. 

Fans of Garth Nix, Holly Black, Libba Bray, and other similar writers will definitely enjoy this book.  And if you need some more oomph, as you might be able to tell from the cover picture it was a 2011 Morris Award Finalist.