Title: Greedy Pigs (A Sin du Jour Affair #5)
Authors: Matt Wallace (Twitter)
Rating: So Funny I’m Gonna Die, So Highly Freaking Recommended
Genre/Category: Politics, Urban Fantasy, Supernatural, Food
Release Date: May 16, 2017

Publisher: Tor.Com Publishing

Order Here: BARNES AND NOBLE | AMAZON (KINDLE)

Note: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Me being me, tha’s basically the only kind of review I do. There are so many spoilers. But also… not enough spoilers.

The Sin du Jour crew caters to the Shadow Government in Greedy Pigs, Matt Wallace’s fifth Sin du Jour Affair

“I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.”

Politics is a dirty game. When the team at Sin du Jour accidentally caters a meal for the President of the United States and his entourage, they discover a conspiracy that has been in place since before living memory. Meanwhile, the Shadow Government that oversees the co-existence of the natural and supernatural worlds is under threat from the most unlikely of sources.

It’s up to one member of the Sin du Jour staff to prevent war on an unimaginable scale.

Between courses, naturally.

Holy fucking shit.

That was my reaction to both starting and finishing Greedy Pigs and I’m sure it’ll be yours too!

If you’re new to my semi-sober reviews of Matt Wallace’s Sin du Jour series, you should know that he never fails to deliver the big blows and some major WTF moments in every single book of the series. Greedy Pigs isn’t an exception and like the previous four books in the series, it had me all kinds of fucked up at the end.

And at the middle.

Hell, at the start.

Okay so if you’re a bit late to the game, let me catch you up a bit before we talk about Greedy Pigs. Matt Wallace’s Sin du Jour series is an Urban Fantasy powerhouse that revolves around an ensemble cast of characters that cater (literally cater, this is freaky fantasy food service, folks) to the supernatural beings that live in – and often control – our world. For the most part, they’re treated the way that caterers and chefs are treated: as invisible and inconsequential to the people with power, but lately, they’ve been subject to the attention of some pretty awful figures. I don’t want to spoil more beyond that because I’m hoping that the uninitiated take the time to buy the series, so that’s gonna have to be it for a recap.

So let’s get started!

We’ve covered that Matt is #writinggoals for me right?

That’s never going to change.

Part of it is that he has this amazing talent for worldbuilding without info dumping and holy shit does he bring some amazingly epic worldbuilding to the table throughout this book. There are a bunch of questions that I had left over, not just from the previous book Idle Ingredients, but from theories and notes that I’d developed throughout reading the series.

Like occasionally I’m legit pissed about the fact that there doesn’t appear to be a fandom for this fantastic series because sometimes, all I want to do is talk about my SdJ theories with like-minded folks (but then I look at my latest fandom experiences and kind of… resign myself to being a SdJ super-fan in relative anonymity).

Greedy Pigs answers and/or resolves a bunch of theories that I had. I’d had questions about Lena’s role in the future of the series and of Sin du Jour and that sure as hell got answers. Same goes for Ritter’s backstory (y’all can’t see me but I am making SUCH a face right now because of Ritter). And if you ever wanted a little glimpse at what other supernatural figures live in New York – sometimes literally right under our feet (I say as if I’m not in Miami) – you’re gonna get that glimpse and more.

Also like… the plot for Greedy Pigs was so tight, y’all. It picks up pretty soon after Idle Ingredients so the characters are still dealing with the fallout from the whole book (but especially the last bit with Ritter and they don’t even know that they’re dealing with that shit until it’s too late). But it’s all clearly connected and you need to have read the previous books to pick up on details you would otherwise miss that bookend the big ones that you couldn’t have missed.

Greedy Pigs is fucked up but like… in a good way. Like I’m having “this book is about cannibalism” kinds of fucked up fun but WITHOUT the cannibalism. It’s so good. It’s so dark. I mean we’re at a serious turning point for the Sin du Jour crew in this book and shit goes sideways so fast that your head will spin.

There’s a part around one of the two inaugurations in this book (I’m not going to tell you which one) where I had to put my kindle down and like stare at my ceiling for a bit because it couldn’t possibly have happened. And then I read the scene two more times because it would explain so much about the state of current United States politics.

That’s another thing about Greedy Pigs that I loved: it feels like we’re taking a secret peak at a world within our own that we weren’t supposed to get!

Back in book two (Lustlocked), Matt wrote David Bowie as the real life actual Goblin King. (Yes, I bring this up every time I review a Sin du Jour book but I’m still not over this.) Like it wasn’t a role he was playing. He was the flipping king of the goblins – who all conveniently are Hollywood’s best and prettiest, by the way. Since this book takes place across two separate (but connected) inaugurations, you can only guess who rears their ugly orange head.

What you probably can’t guess – and what I won’t be spoiling for you – is what happens next.

I love urban fantasy where it feels like it’s our world but weirder. LOVE IT!

And that’s what Matt brings to the table with Greedy Pigs.

Except somehow, the politics in this series might be more fucked up than the politics in our world. For now…

Now it’s not a Stitch review if I don’t talk about relationships so let’s get into that:

First things first, my ship has sunk.

Which ship? Maybe all of them at this point now that I think of it. Of course my OTP me/(Lena, Jett, or Cindy) wasn’t happening but I mean… I had hope. I had so much hope.

But the kicker when it comes to sunken ships is… well it’s a huge fucking spoiler but I’m in my feels about this so just… deal:

I literally can’t see a way for this series to end with Lena and Ritter together. He fucked all the way up and, as a result, put everyone (but especially Darren) in the path of some truly awful shit. I get his motivations and I’m not writing him off as an asshole because of the choices he made (because honestly… I can’t say that I wouldn’t have made them in his shoes, but like…

Lena’s family is basically just Darren and maybe sort of the crew at Sin du Jour and Ritter fucked that all up. All of it. Like… when I realized what Ritter made possible and how he fucked everything up for his crew but also and especially Lena and Darren…

Wow.

Ritter has been my book boyfriend since Envy of Angels but now… I think we need to see other people. At least until he redeems himself in Lena’s eyes (provided that the effort doesn’t kill him).

On top of that, Lena and Darren’s relationship goes from fragile to fractured. Like it’s not either of their faults (this is why I’m SO MAD at Ritter) and Darren probably doesn’t even realize what’s going on but basically every time he was in a scene after a certain point, I wanted to ugly cry because he’s my baby.

The good news, when it comes to relationships, is that I might be okay with Dorsky having one now. I mean he’s not perfect but he’s trying and okay he had a REALLY cute moment with Nikki and while I don’t think I ship it yet… I could.

Now folks, while I may not be sure if I want to live in the weird world of the Sin du Jour series, Greedy Pigs makes it crystal clear that maybe, just maybe, we’re already there. And that’s what makes Greedy Pigs such a fantastic read.

GO BUY THIS BOOK!!