Dangerous Demons: Deadtown

Dear Readers,

Back on the scene am I this fine Spring and interested in really more demons for the blog....

So....

Without further adieu, please let me present for your consideration the fabulous book, Deadtown by Nancy Holzner.

As you may have gathered reading my posts, I do so enjoy a strong female lead character.  Especially ones that kick ass.  So, perhaps it is not surprising to find me reading about the trials and tribulations of Victory "Vicky" Vaughn, professional demon slayer and member of the Cerddorion race.

That makes her a shape-shifter.  She's living in Boston, post the plague outbreak which changed humans into zombies.  While it was only a short stay with the virus PA (Paranormal Americans) are caught in the Deadtown, the center of downtown Boston.

While Vicky makes a living slaying people's demons (mostly in their heads but sometimes elsewhere) she is dating a high profile werewolf lawyer and lives with a vampire who was the inspiration for Romeo & Juliet.

Things start to get interesting when she starts having to deal with a Hellion on the loose, the same one who killed her father 10 years prior.  This starts a chain of events that leaves her fighting off the Hellion before he can find a way to influence the Massachusetts election and get the Paranormals caught up in a new slice of hell.

I really enjoyed the fast pace of the book and the characters who inhabit Vicky's world of Boston.  Vampires are there mostly for color but the werewolves and zombies are an interesting fit and the zombies really provide a unique view into what makes someone a monster.  Oh yes, kinda like the Anita Blake novels, but a very different take on the whole affair.

I also enjoy the idea of a flushed Welsh mythos in play interwoven into the story.  Go hang with Nancy's imaginary friends, they'll be yours too.

XX
RHW




Deadtown (A Deadtown Novel)
By: Nancy Holzner
Published: December 29, 2009, Ace Books
ISBN: 978-0441018130

Werewolves' Howl: River Marked

I was thrilled to see the new Patricia Briggs book, River Marked, out in Borders.  You know, the endagered species of bookstores.

A page turner, Mercy Thompson becomes Hauptman, in a wedding tying her to her werewolf mate.  Then on honey moon with her new Alpha mate head out to the country where they find more than they bargained for.  A faery's prophecy found Mercy meeting both her past and her future in the Indian side of her blood.

An enormous battle leaves her literally in the claws of death, but power and her weird relationship to a fae artifact saves her in the end.

I love pat's style in weaving a story with super believable traits and a world that is shocked by the things that go howl in the night.  It takes the same point of view that True Blood does on HBO, where humanity is being forced to react to things considered "paranormal".  While Charlene Harris does the same in her books, it is a very different backdrop for Sookie and co on paper rather than via the prism of Alan Ball.

Anyway, loved getting more backstory on Mercy as well as the wedding was great.

I highly recommend it.

XX
Red Haired Witch



River Marked (Mercy Thompson, Book 6)

Author: Patricia Briggs
Publisher: Ace Books
ISBN: 978-0441019731