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Doubletake
Doubletake
Nov 6, 2025 10:50 AM

Author:Rob Thurman

Doubletake

The latest book in the Cal Leandros series that began with Nightlife, Doubletake is clever, ironic and hugely entertaining urban fantasy in the vein of Jim Butcher and Charlaine Harris by the New York Times bestselling author, Rob Thurman.

'Family was a hateful bitch, it was. I had the hot poker scars of that burned into my flesh, but, scars or not, sometimes family was all you had worth playing with. Maybe he would see that. Maybe he would want to play too. I played rough . . . I played to win.'

If anyone knows that having family isn't always a good thing, it's half-human/ half-living nightmare Cal Leandros. But for once, it's not his relatives causing the trouble. That headache belongs to his half-brother, Niko. His ne'er-do-well father is in town. He needs a favour, and if Niko refuses, it just might doom the entire city.

Yet an even more dangerous reunion is in the works. The entire lying, stealing, hormonally charged Puck race (including the brothers' lethally charismatic friend Robin Goodfellow) is in town for their millennial meeting - and to hold a lottery that no Puck wants to win.

As Cal tries to keep both Niko and Robin from paying the ultimate price for their kin, a horrific reminder from Cal's own past arrives to remind him that blood is thicker than water . . . and that's why it's so much more frightening to spill.

A compelling contemporary fantasy with a witty and dark edge, Rob Thurman's Doubletake should not be missed.

Praise for Rob Thurman:

'All the great elements I've come to expect from this writer' Charlaine Harris

'Thurman delivers in spades' SFRevu

'A roaring rollercoaster of a read . . . it'll take your breath away' Simon R. Green

Rob Thurman lives in Indiana, land of rolling hills and cows. Lots and lots of cows. Nightlife, Moonshine, Madhouse and Deathwish, the previous novels in the Cal Leandros series, are also published by Penguin. Visit Rob at www.robthurman.net.

Reviews

Thurman delivers in spades

—— SFRevu

All the great elements I've come to expect from this writer

—— Charlaine Harris

A roaring rollercoaster of a read . . . it'll take your breath away

—— Simon R. Green

A furious, ironic, idiosyncratic, unexpurgated torrent, capturing Italian modernity

—— Kirkus

Sorrentino uses this novel to deal with Italy's unstoppable descent into today's dazed, corrupted and tragically foolish reality...[in] exceptionally adventurous language

—— La Repubblica

Remarkable... It's hard to forget Tony...his image sticks in the reader's mind...he is a true hero of our times

—— L'Espresso

Make sure this novel is in your beach bag this summer

—— Monocle

One thinks of...The Tin Drum... A bracing alternative to the staleness of formula, whether on a downscale Italian tour, wandering a Brazilian shantytown, or sinking into a Manhattan mashup of showbiz and sleaze

—— BookForum

Beautiful prose...this is a challenging, thoughtful read, even for the die-hard heathen

—— Eastern Daily Press

Beard writes with sharp clarity; short unadorned sentences that contain an unforced, incisive wit....Lazarus's legend continues to fascinate in this totally original book

—— Sunday Business Post

A fascinating mixture of fiction and academic essay...using biblical sources and other, less orthodox ones, Beard weaves a compelling tale portrait of first-century Israel, of Jerusalem with its factions and sects, and of Jesus, Lazarus's enigmatic friend, as he makes his journey towards the Cross

—— Catholic Herald

I finished the book at a sitting. What makes it so gripping is Beard's limitless curiosity.

—— James Russell Blog

The approach is unusual, the narrative bold and exhilarating...this book with its melding of fiction and non-fiction, critical analysis and detective work, consolidation and controversy, is a potent combination that breathes life not only into the 'imaginative representations' of historical events but also into the possibilities of what we think a novel might be able to achieve.

—— Just William's Luck

So good it's almost off the scale for me. Brave, brilliant and utterly readable.

—— The Bookbag
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