My Rating
“The Know-It-All”
Hellcat has returned to Spalding Grantham’s murder scene in search of clues. She needs to act fast, because Patsy Walker is now an official suspect in his brutal death. There is just one little problem—someone, or something, has blocked her memories of the murder. Within minutes, however, Hellcat catches a lucky break when she discovers Sleepwalker’s Imaginator device fused into the floorboards. How the hell did it get there?
The Walker family home, Centerville, California—it is 2:00 a.m. when Patsy finally returns from her investigation. Her face, body, and soul ache from various forms of punishment. Even worse, fragments of her childhood keep flashing through her mind. The father who abandoned the family. Why did he leave? Then there is Patsy’s old friend Chet. Did he really convince the high school principal that he was responsible for the cheating racket? Patsy snaps back to the present. Enough memories for one night. It’s time to have a little chat with Ghost Mom!
Will the plush bunny version of Daimon Hellstrom talk some sense into Patsy? Can Sleepwalker dodge the Dream Police long enough to conduct an investigation of his own? Could there be a connection between everything happening to Hellcat and the demonic rivalry between Mephisto and Blackheart? Collect the series to find out!
Review
I’ve got to be honest—I’m not liking this version of Patsy Walker. It’s really bumming me out. I much prefer the fun, energetic Patsy Walker, a.k.a. Hellcat, from her 2015–2017 series. I realize I’ve missed a pretty big chunk of her story since then, but how did she lose so much? Even the situation involving her father is a drag. If these memories really represent Patsy’s childhood, Dorothy Walker must have done some serious rewriting over the years. Good grief, Mom!
There, now that I’ve gotten my rant out of the way, this is still a solid story. Christopher Cantwell continues introducing the key players in the murder mystery while slowly peeling back the layers of Patsy’s past. I’m a little confused about the locations, however. I thought the events were taking place in Centerville, so why do we suddenly find ourselves in San Francisco? Maybe I missed something along the way, but the geography threw me off more than once.
There was also one scene that made me roll my eyes. Hedy Wolfe calls the police on Hellcat, and the cops seemingly arrive within seconds. Yeah, right. Do the West Coast po-po have teleporter technology now? Despite my complaints, the supernatural mystery involving Sleepwalker, the Dream Police, and Patsy’s fractured memories still has my attention. I just wish a little more of the old fun-loving Hellcat would break through all this misery. I have to go with three out of five stars this time. I miss the fun Hellcat!