Monster Hunter Memoirs – Sinners picks up shortly after Monster Hunter Memoirs – Grunge. After making a mistake while being the playboy that he is, Chad has to get out of Seattle as quickly as possible. So, MHI sends him to help out the Hoodoo Squad in New Orleans, where they’ve had a huge increase in monster activity in recent months.

Without warning, there were dozens of new werewolves to deal with, along with new vampires, giant animals, and more. The Hoodoo Squad was being run ragged, and some of them were dying. Chad, as he is wont to do, shows up and starts doing the solo act until he’s put in the hospital. And the fun is only beginning.

John Ringo, whose idea these novels were, has an easy style. Monster Hunter Memoirs – Sinners pulls in the reader and takes them on a wild and enjoyable ride. However, Chad is the ultimate Mary Sue character, as he is good at everything. This makes the outcomes fairly predictable. This reduces the good tension in the book, leaving little suspense or “I wonder what will happen next”. Chad is a walking cliché.

I really liked the members of Hoodoo Squad. They were an eclectic mix of serious, crazy (but in a sane way), and everything in between, and that worked out just fine in New Orleans. Shelbye kept things interesting, with her Southern know-how and matter-of-fact attitude. She was one of my favorites in this book.

The details of the plot are where Monster Hunter Memoirs – Sinners shines. It was very easy to telegraph what is going to happen in general, so those details really helped make up for that. As Chad mentions multiple times in the book, this is the Big Easy, which means there is always something interesting happening there. And the crazy, interesting things keep happening and getting bigger and bigger.

This book had a lot more Milo in it, which was fun. He is one of my favorite characters from the main series, so seeing him in action rather than mostly working in the shop was exciting. Earl also puts in an appearance for a bit, though his roles was mostly in the background. Still, he does play a major role in the climax of the story.

Overall, this book was enjoyable. It adds some Cajun flavor to the Monster Hunter world (especially with Shelbye wanting to cook up several of the monsters after dealing with them). Fans of Ringo and Correia will enjoy Monster Hunter Memoirs – Sinners, and I’m looking forward to the final book in the trilogy coming out later this year.

Release Date: December 6, 2016 (USA)
ISBNs: 1476781834 (9781476781839)
Publisher: Baen Books
Language: English

MySF Rating: Four point zero stars
Family Friendliness: 60%

Content:

Alcohol/Drugs: 3 (much drinking, some smoking and other tobacco, brief drug mention)
Language: 4 (frequent strong language, deity)
Sexuality: 2 (occasional innuendo and sexual references)
Violence: 4 (frequent brutal violence, monster fighting and attacks, frequent death)