Risingshadow
Speculative Fiction Books
  • About
    • Home
    • Articles
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Service
    • Staff Members
    • Newsletter
    • Finnish (FI)
  • Books
    • New Releases
    • Coming Soon
    • Books of the Year
    • Bookshelves Activity
    • Recently Added
    • Advanced Search
    • Reviews / Comments
    • Genres and Tags
    • * Submit Book
  • Community
    • Discussions
    • - Recent Messages
    • - Recent Topics
    • - Hot Topics
    • - Popular Topics
    • - Search
    • CHALLENGES
    • - Reading Challenge
    • - Book Trivia Quiz
  • Home
  • Books
  • Craig Schaefer
  • Daniel Faust
  • The Long Way Down

The Long Way Down

Daniel Faust #1 / 12
by Craig Schaefer
The Long Way Down (Daniel Faust #1) by Craig Schaefer
★ 7.00 / 2
1234516718910

Nobody knows the seedy underbelly of Las Vegas like Daniel Faust, a sorcerer for hire and ex-gangster who uses black magic and bullets to solve his clients' problems. When an old man comes seeking vengeance for his murdered granddaughter, what looks like a simple job quickly spirals out of control.

Soon Daniel stands in the crossfire between a murderous porn director; a corrupt cop with a quick trigger finger; and his own former employer, a racket boss who isn't entirely human. Then there's Caitlin: brilliant, beautiful, and the lethal right hand of a demon prince.

A man named Faust should know what happens when you rub shoulders with demons. Still Daniel can't resist being drawn to Caitlin's flame as they race to unlock the secret of the Etruscan Box, a relic that people all over town are dying - and killing - to get their hands on. As the bodies drop and the double-crosses pile up, Daniel will need every shred of his wits, courage and sheer ruthlessness just to survive.

Daniel Faust knew he was standing with one foot over the brink of hell. He's about to find out just how far he can fall.

Amazon: Check Best Offer

FantasyUrban Fantasy
Release date: April 2014

Book Order
Amazon
Kindle
Audible
Amazon CA
Amazon UK
Amazon Europe

Your Rating
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Standard Shelves

Readers also enjoyed

Hounded (The Iron Druid Chronicles #1)
★ 8.46 / 15
Written in Red (The Others #1)
★ 8.18 / 11
Rivers of London (Rivers of London #1)
★ 8.14 / 15
Odd Thomas (Odd Thomas #1)
★ 8.10 / 11
Dead Witch Walking (The Hollows #1)
★ 8.06 / 15
Neverwhere (Neverwhere #1)
★ 8.02 / 76
Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires #1)
★ 8.00 / 11

Join the Discussion
You can post as a guest or sign in for more features.
Have questions about this book or want to share your thoughts? Join the conversation!

Craig Schaefer

Craig Schaefer writes where the lines between crime and sorcery blur, and where every bargain comes with a cost. Under that name, Heather Schaefer has built an interconnected body of work that threads through the neon alleys of Las Vegas, the halls of occult conspiracies, and worlds shaped by betrayal, devotion, and blood-stained magic.

Her breakthrough came with The Long Way Down in 2014, the first Daniel Faust novel. What began as the tale of a streetwise magician hustling through Vegas’s underbelly grew into a sprawling series praised for its relentless pacing and razor-edged mix of noir and urban fantasy. Schaefer expanded the universe with Harmony Black, turning the camera on a covert government team tasked with confronting supernatural threats, and with The Revanche Cycle, a Renaissance-tinged epic of politics and power. Though distinct in setting, these works share a gravitational pull toward moral ambiguity: damaged survivors, corrupt institutions, and the fragile bonds that can either redeem or destroy.

Read more ...

Schaefer’s stories often carry the texture of lived history. Before writing full time, she immersed herself in folklore, crime reporting, and the ways myth bleeds into daily life. Those influences surface in her prose, lyrical when a moment demands wonder and unflinching when violence breaks through. She does not shy away from flawed heroes or hard questions, instead building narratives that sit at the uneasy crossroads of loyalty and betrayal, hope and ruin.

Now based in North Carolina, she continues to weave tales set in what she calls the First Story, a shared continuity linking her major works. A decade on from her first publication, her novels have been translated into multiple languages, drawing international readers into her haunted worlds.

Whether following Daniel Faust’s crooked path through casinos and covens, Harmony Black’s battles with monsters in the dark, or the political intrigue of The Revanche Cycle, readers come to Schaefer’s work expecting more than just magic. They come for the tension of lives balanced on the edge, where every choice carries a shadow.

Daniel Faust

Las Vegas. It's a city of big winners and bigger losers, where fortunes tumble with a roll of the dice. Under all the glitz and sleaze, though, there's another Vegas: a city infested by monsters in human skin, drenched in occult corruption. It's the kind of place where a dash of black magic and a gun could be the only thing standing between you and the gates of hell. The kind of place a man like Daniel Faust calls home.

Read more ...

Faust is nobody's hero. He's a card-carrying villain by trade, a thief and sorcerer just trying to make a dishonest buck in Sin City. He doesn't have to go looking for trouble, though: trouble finds him. Surviving by his wits, he does his best to save the day (if he absolutely has to), save his own skin (preferably), and beat the odds on his way to the next big score.


Daniel Faust consists of eleven primary books, and includes one additional book that complement the series but is not considered mandatory reads and series is set to expand with the upcoming release of one more book. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.

The Long Way Down (Daniel Faust #1)
★ 7.00 / 2
The White Gold Score (Daniel Faust #1.5)
★ 7.50 / 2
Redemption Song (Daniel Faust #2)
★ 7.50 / 2
The Living End (Daniel Faust #3)
★ 7.50 / 2
A Plain-Dealing Villain (Daniel Faust #4)
★ 9.00 / 2
The Killing Floor Blues (Daniel Faust #5)
★ 9.00 / 2
The Castle Doctrine (Daniel Faust #6)
★ 9.50 / 2
Double or Nothing (Daniel Faust #7)
★ 9.50 / 2
The Neon Boneyard (Daniel Faust #8)
★ 9.00 / 2
The Locust Job (Daniel Faust #9)
★ 10.00 / 1
Down Among the Dead Men (Daniel Faust #10)
Unrated
Dig Two Graves (Daniel Faust #11)
⧗ 9.00 / 2
Daniel Faust Book 12 (Daniel Faust #12)
⧗ 9.34 / 3


^ Top
Follow Us: Newsletter | Facebook | X | Mastodon | RSS
Hosted by Planeetta Internet Oy
© 1996 - 2026 Risingshadow. All rights reserved.
This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website.
Privacy Policy