Dyson Devereux is not your average person, he doesn’t like slow sad love songs from artists like Celine Dion and he hates reality shows like the X Factor. He lives in England and he works in the burials and cemeteries department for his local council. To say that Dyson doesn’t relate to people would be an understatement. He forgets people’s names, he doesn’t show any emotion when his co-worker Dorthy dies and in the beginning of the book when he is at her funeral he thinks how glorious his funeral will be and about the promotion he will get now that Dorthy is dead.

What he lacks in empathy he makes up for in intelligence and attention to detail. Dyson sees himself as the smartest person where he works and he thinks Dorthy’s death will lead him to bigger and better things. Dyson knows a lot about death but it doesn’t necessarily get him anywhere when it comes to higher pay. That’s ok though, because he just found out that a war criminal may be working under a fake name in the cemetery and there is a big reward for his capture. Dyson’s skills may not help him on the job but it will get him that reward money.

The first thing I thought when I started Necropolis by Guy Portman was: “Hey it’s Dexter, he must have moved to Great Britain and started working as a funeral director. In reality the only similarities between Dexter and Dyson is that they are both sociopaths trying to fit into society when they don’t relate to people. The story to Necropolis isn’t why you should read this book. What really makes this book good is Dyson himself.Dyson has a different view on society than most people have and its told entirely from his point of view. One thing I kept wondering about him was if he cares about the people that he interacts with?

Dyson has a girlfriend named Eve who has a drug problem, at one point he says he doesn’t love her but he says he does tolerate her. That being said he takes it upon himself to pay off her drug debts and get revenge on the dealer that has threatened her. Because he does that you think maybe he does care but then he gets embarrassed when she gets emotional and he has other women on the side. Another point in the story after a drug fueled threesome he asks himself if this is love which proves that he doesn’t know what love is and he even admits he has never felt it.

Necropolis shows you what goes on in the mind of a sociopath from what made him to how he lives his day-to-day life. Death does not bother Dyson, its his business and the other funeral workers aren’t bothered by it either. I found myself wondering if all people who work in funeral parlors are like this since all the characters shown in the story come across as uncaring. One point where they were preparing a body for a funeral made me almost stop reading. There were times that I felt that Dyson was the normal one among his coworkers. Necropolis is a different type of book and a dark twisted comedy that is not for the squeamish. ( )

When I started reading the book, I thought the first chapters felt long and had a little too much information, details almost went overboard and I wondered if the book would be written like that all the time but after a while I got into the book and it is like most describe, dark twisted humor and a couple of times when I thought 'what the hell ....! "

It's definitely not for everyone, but I think you have to have a certain humor and twinkle in the eye to read the book without getting a little offended.

A good book, a little different though. ( )