Jinx, by Jennifer Estep (Berkley Sensation, 2008)

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In the city of Bigtime, New York, superheroes and ubervillains are a common phenomenon, sightings of them almost routine. With costumed stalwarts such as the Fearless Five, Johnny Angel, Swifte, or even Granny Cane prowling the streets to keep them safe from all sorts of dangers, it seems like you can’t walk a block without tripping over one four-color character or another. Bella Bulluci knows this all too well; her brother is the current Johnny Angel, motorcycle-riding champion of justice, and thanks to his recent marriage to Fiona “Fiera” Fine, pyrokinetic member of the Fearless Five, Bella’s been tripping over superheroes left and right. Literally. Bella’s got her own superhuman power, an uncontrollable ability to manipulate probability for better or worse, and it’s been making her life miserable for as long as she can remember, with things breaking, burning up, or exploding at the most inopportune times. Bella wants as little to do with the superheroic life as possible, preferring to focus on her career as a fashion designer and occasional would-be artist. But what she wants is not what she gets, when the museum gala she’s planning runs into a few snags. Before she can blink, she has the teleporting playboy of Bigtime, Debonair, wooing her, and the vicious ubervillain known as The Hangman threatening her, with a priceless gem up for grabs.

Now poor Bella is right smack in the middle of the life she never wanted, struggling with a fast-growing attraction for the enigmatic Debonair, who’s definitely not all he seems to be. He’s got the hots for her, but what bizarre secrets is he hiding? And how can Bella ever bring herself to trust a superhero, when that lifestyle got her father killed and has brought her nothing but misery? Who is The Hangman, and what do he and his partner Prism want with the fabled Blue Sapphire? Can Bella overcome a lifetime of antipathy for superheroes, and her own uncontrollable powers, to help save Bigtime from possible destruction? Even with the help of the Fearless Five and Bigtime’s resident explosives expert, Bella’s going to be in for the adventure of a lifetime . . . and quite possibly a love affair like none she ever imagined. Will Debonair stop stealing paintings long enough to steal her heart?

Jinx is the third in Jennifer Estep’s surprisingly entertaining series about Bigtime, a city where comic book action goes hand-in-hand with romance and adventure. While the overall tone is somewhat light-hearted, it’s quite clear that Estep takes her comic book conventions quite seriously, borrowing all of the great tropes to flesh out her setting. From the prolific use of double initials for the main characters (Bella Bulluci, Devlin Dash, Sam Sloane) to the gizmos, gadgets and secret hideouts, Estep invokes old-school superhero comics, all the while avoiding any direct parallels to the big-name superheroes — no Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman analogues to be found here. Speaking as a comic book fan, I could very easily see this setting work as a comic series. It may come off as a little hokey, even satirical, with characters such as Halitosis Hal, Cap’n Freebeard and his Saucy Wenches, or Granny Cane roaming the streets, but it’s fun and charming in its earnesty, and it holds together at its core. What more can you ask for a setting that juggles the double requirements of superhero comic books and romance happily-ever-afters?

The characters themselves are sympathetic and suitably complex. Bella’s a flawed heroine with some real issues to work out, but we get to see her change, grow, and work past or through them in the course of the story, even if it’s much like throwing someone in the deep end of the pool to teach them how to swim. What’s important is that her character is honest, and we can feel the pain and emotional struggles she deals with, from the loss of her father to her hatred of the superhero life to her hate/fear/uneasy acceptance of her power, to the conflicting feelings she experiences whenever Debonair is around. Debonair himself is a mixed bag of confidence and insecurity, charm and eagerness, style and image, and as we learn, he’s definitely got a lot going on below the surface. The chemistry these two exude when together is almost tangible, and Estep’s really given us a couple worth rooting for. This being a romance, and one with a comic edge to it at that, it’s pretty obvious what’s coming a lot of the time, especially where the ending is concerned. Luckily, even though some things are telegraphed from fairly early on, there are a few surprises that will likely catch even an experienced reader off guard.

I’ve loved this series so far, and have grown quite fond of the setting and the characters. Jinx is quite enjoyable, a worthy installment to the Bigtime Books. Estep demonstrates an admirable adeptness at blending genres, respecting the demands of superhero comics and romances without missing a beat, all the while maintaining a sense of humor. I hope the next book isn’t too far behind.

Hunter's Moon, by David Devereux (Gollancz, 2007)

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Extraordinary situations call for extraordinary solutions. In England, one such solution is the operative known only as Jack, who describes himself as “a musician by choice, a magician by profession, and a bastard by disposition.” When the shadowy government agency he works for needs something done right, no matter how dirty or nasty the job, Jack gets the call. From demons to druids, cultists to terrorists, he’s left a trail of bodies, buried so deep no one will ever find the evidence. And he’s about to take on a really nasty sort of case.

Partnered with a woman he only knows as Annie, he’s sent to investigate a group of radical feminists who plan to assassinate the Prime Minister. Jack goes undercover as Annie’s boyfriend, even as she’s tapped to infiltrate their inner circle and determine just how deep a plot is afoot. But as the mission progresses, things get messy, and before he knows it, Annie’s gone native thanks to the group’s brainwashing techniques. Now Jack’s got to rescue his colleague and foil the assassination. He’ll stop at absolutely nothing to succeed, heedless of the cost in lives and souls. But how much is too much, to preserve the country he loves?

Hunter’s Moon is an intense, no-holds-barred, nonstop excursion through some extremely dark corners of the soul and the landscape. Jack himself is a hardcore, badass son-of-a-bitch drawn straight from the Jack Bauer (24) school of thought, utilizing brutal, merciless techniques to get the job done. From assault to kidnapping, torture to seduction, it doesn’t seem as though Jack balks at anything when it comes to doing his job, rationalizing it all away as the price required to preserve the greater peace. In the world of secret agencies, shadow organizations, mysterious societies and renegade cults, it takes a stone-cold killer to succeed. And even then, the bad guys nearly get the drop on him, with their own unique blend of talents and techniques.

David Devereux, a self-proclaimed paranormal expert and exorcist, certainly imbues this story with a dark sort of passion and energy, granting Hunter’s Moon a morbidly compelling appeal. It’s dark and unrelenting, and more than a little disturbing in places. It’s well-written and fast-paced, a hell of a story in its own right, but it definitely draws from a different set of inspirations and tones than your average urban fantasy. Honestly, it seems to straddle a grey line between dark fantasy and horror; take out the fantasy elements and you have yourself a modern-day Bondesque thriller. I really enjoyed Hunter’s Moon, but there’s no doubt that it left an impression that’ll last well after finishing the book. I daresay I’ll be on the lookout for the sequel.

Hands of Flame, by C.E. Murphy (Luna, 2008)

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Ever since she was drawn into the world of the Old Races, supernatural creatures dwelling in secret alongside humanity, lawyer Margrit Knight has risked life and limb for them. Time and again, she’s gone up against immensely powerful beings, negotiating and making deals, putting her reputation, career, and very life on the line. Along the way, she’s fallen in love with the noble, tormented gargoyle Alban Korund, giving her heart to him even though their relationship defies sanity and logic. She’s dealt with the dragon crime lord Janx, and the vampire businessman Eliseo Daisani, two bitter rivals locked together in eternal competition. She’s negotiated with the selkies, defied the djinn, haggled with the urban vigilante Grace O’Malley, and placed herself right in the middle of a war brewing between the five races, overturning ancient laws and challenging their oldest customs. And now everything is coming to a head, with plans put in motion and tensions at their highest. The djinn seek vengeance for the death of one of their own, the selkies seek power over the criminal underworld, Janx and Daisani continue their never-ending feud, and the gargoyles gather to decide, once and for all, the fate of Alban Korund, guilty of breaking their most sacred laws. But not for anything is Margrit Knight, called Grit, now known as the Negotiator.

As Margrit fights for the life of her beloved Alban, she also has to keep her mortal friends and loved ones safe. As the last days of her job with Legal Aid dwindle, she both anticipates and dreads her new employment with Daisani. With favors owed and debts to be paid, she’s placed in a number of unenviable positions, forced to work both with and against Janx, Daisani, the selkies, the djinn, the gargoyles, and her ex-boyfriend. Allegiances shift and mysteries abound, secrets are revealed, and promises broken. In the middle as always, Margrit Knight is both catalyst and fulcrum, upon which the fates of five races and their presence in New York rest.

C.E. Murphy wraps up the Negotiator trilogy with Hands of Flame, a roller coaster of a ride that starts off strong and rockets right to the end. There’s a lot going on, with numerous factions all vying for domination, each one with its own agenda and set of alliances, and it’s fascinating to watch the give and take as they make deals and allow concessions, usually with Margrit manipulating or influencing things along the way. It’s a fairly complex, intense storyline, and Murphy does an excellent job of keeping all the balls in the air. Every time you think one thing is wrapped up, something else explodes, making it hard to put the book down, as the five different races and a few unaffiliated extras all collide in new and interesting ways. In the process, quite a few things brought up in the first two books are addressed, explained, and elaborated upon, with a few more mysteries introduced for good measure.

I’d be lax if I didn’t touch upon Margrit. She’s a feisty, gutsy heroine, wholly capable of taking care of herself and more than ready to go up against forces greater than herself if need be. With metaphorical balls of steel, she tackles tricky negotiations between dragons, vampires, djinn, selkies, gargoyles and more without batting an eyelash, never letting them see her sweat. Watching her work is a treat, and an exercise in amazement, especially since she has this habit of surviving every encounter . . . or almost always, anyway. She gets extra points for being a non-Caucasian heroine, without being a token, stereotype, or pointed example.

Janx and Daisani may be one of my favorite pairs of mortal enemies/distinguished competition to cross my desk in years. They’re both immensely dangerous in their respective ways, honorable, cunning, unrelenting, and personable, able to work from behind a veneer of civility. Call them bad guys if you will, but the two of them, either separate or together, have a hell of a dynamic going on, and steal the show whenever they’re onscreen. Murphy adeptly avoids humanizing them too much, and no one’s ever going to mistake Daisani for the watered-down brooding Byronic wannabes that populate so many vampire romances. Murphy’s take on the secretive supernatural races is appealing and fascinating, and I’m actually a little disappointed that this is the last we’ll see of the Old Races for the time being.

There’s a lot to enjoy about this book. The plot is strong and fast-paced, the descriptions are evocative and powerful (especially during the scenes when Margrit is exploring the shared memories of the gargoyles, a major plot point), and the characters are fun to watch in action. Overall, this has been an excellent trilogy, and Hands of Flame is a more than worthy wrap-up to the story, easily one of Murphy’s best works to date. This makes for great urban fantasy. And despite it being part of Harlequin’s Luna imprint, there’s very little romance to be found, save in the form of Margrit’s ongoing love affair with Alban, which sees a few bumps and snags this time around, but nothing insurmountable. In fact, I’d have to say that with their romance pretty much settled in previous books, Murphy felt safe to put it on the back burner while she attacked the greater needs of the overall plot, which is fine by me. There’s enough happening as it is that we don’t need further emotional conflict between the romantic leads. The end result is one hell of a high-octane conclusion to the trilogy, making for a series that’s well worth reading. Tired of cookie-cutter treatments of vampires and werewolves? Here’s a breath of fresh air.

The Devil's Due, by Jenna Black (Dell Spectra, 2008)

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The worst thing any exorcist can do is secretly harbor a demon inside of her. Especially an illegally summoned one. Worse still is when said demon is Lugh, exiled king of the demons, and some very powerful forces are looking to find and kill him. Morgan Kingsley has established an uneasy truce with Lugh, though she’s none too pleased nor comfortable with the arrangement, which sees him visiting her in her dreams and occasionally using her body . . . with and without her permission. She’s paid a heavy toll so far, with her life thrown into upheaval and her family torn apart, and as far as she can tell, things are just getting worse.

But a girl has to eat and pay bills, and so Morgan takes on a job. It seems that the son of a prominent Philadelphian couple has gotten himself possessed by a demon. Given that he was, until very recently, quite anti-demon, everything smacks of illegal possession. Morgan looks into things, and quickly finds herself pulled into a nasty, messy situation. Forced to increasingly rely on allies she doesn’t fully trust, pushed far beyond her comfort zones, and knowing that innocent lives are on the line, it’s everything Morgan can do not to bury this case and head for the hills. But not even she can turn her back on missing children, or the few people she calls friends. But what will it cost her this time?

I’m honestly torn when it comes to this series. Three books in, and I’ve got a pretty good feel for how it’s going. I really enjoy it, enough to pick up each new book as it comes out, and I think there’s a great premise and an intriguing storyline running throughout the series. The more we learn about the ways the mortal and demon worlds interact, the secrets of the demons, and the shadowy conspiracies that seem to be playing both sides against the middle, the more I want to see what happens next. I have to wonder who Morgan will end up with ultimately: her human boyfriend, or Lugh, both of whom have an appeal for her, both of whom have interest in her. I’m not sure which I’d prefer, and it’s that ambiguity and uncertainty, in part, that keeps me coming back for more. You can’t call it a romance, for all that there are those undertones.

I love the fact that two of the supporting characters are a rather functional, affectionate, dedicated gay couple. Sure, the one is a demon-possessed cop, the other is a mortal ex-firefighter, and they have some fairly kinky BDSM-flavored fun going on, but hey, they’re still cute together, and quite likeable. Heck, I wouldn’t mind seeing a book told from their point of view.

So what’s my problem? The main character. Morgan Kingsley herself, the point-of-view protagonist. I’ve lost number of the times I want to shake her until she gets over herself. She’s whiny, indecisive, hypocritical, self-absorbed, and downright rude to the people best suited to help her. She’s her own worst enemy, sabotaging plans with her inability to compromise or cope with the situation. Sure, she may be justified for some of it, but it’s hard to remain sympathetic to a character who just won’t budge. The more she drives away potential allies and friends, the more I hope they’ll leave her to her own devices until she gets the wake-up call she needs. And this is three books’ worth of annoyance, here. This series would be so much better if the main character matured and opened her mind a little more. All the ingredients are there: premise, setting, plotline, action, romance, and even some rather spicy moments, but the series hasn’t quite grasped its potential.

As for this particular book, The Devil’s Due? I enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun, and I’m always interested in seeing how the storyline progresses, as we’ve seen some fascinating revelations, and some disturbing implications along the way. However, it felt a little bit like it was a stepping stone towards the next in the series, as though Jenna Black is aiming at something big down the line, and this was just all part of getting there. It’s a good book, but taken on its own merits, not spectacular. It works better when viewed as part of the series as a larger story. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next!

Deathwish, by Rob Thurman (Roc, 2009)

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The Leandros brothers — brooding, gunhappy Cal, and Niko, the consummate warrior — are once again up to their ears in trouble of the supernatural variety. It’s only been a matter of weeks since their last traumatic encounter with the Auphe, ancient mythical creatures, and all evidence suggests that the Auphe may have been dealt a setback but are still very much in the game. And as always, their main goal is to claim Cal, an Auphe half-blood on his father’s side, as one of their own, while killing everyone he cares about. So now the brothers and their allies, including Niko’s girlfriend, the vampire known as Promise, and the shameless puck known as Robin Goodfellow, are on the run, trying to stay one step ahead of the Auphe while they work on a plan. But how do you stop some of the nastiest, most vicious, sadistic creatures ever to terrorize the human race? How do you fight teleporting nightmares that seem to know where you are at all times?

Just to make things worse, Promise’s long-lost daughter Cherish shows up, on the run herself after stealing a necklace from the wrong person. Ossoshi, a South American badass renowned as a hunter, and his small army of deadly mythical beasts, has followed her to New York, intent on teaching her a lesson she’ll never forget. Will Auphe and Ossoshi catch our heroes in the middle, or turn this mess into a three-way bloodbath? Finally, because the situation wasn’t complicated enough, a mysterious new organization has surfaced, one that seems to know far more than it should about the supernatural events occurring in New York, and the organization’s front man is just about the last person Cal and Niko expected to see alive. And to think this is pretty much business as usual for them. . . .

Deathwish is the fourth in this series about a pair of brothers who make the Winchester boys look like wimps, and everyone’s in fine form as usual. Cal alternates between brooding self-pity, and foolhardy, even suicidal selflessness where his “family” is concerned. Niko maintains a blend of Zen warrior calm and over-protectiveness. Robin . . . well, Robin never changes. He’s still the amoral, omnisexual, hedonistic immortal rogue that he’s always been, providing much-needed common sense and comic relief, and thoroughly stealing the scene whenever he gets a chance. Promise remains inscrutable, yet unusually sweet for a vampire as long-lived as she is, and the revelation of her own pre-existing family in this book adds another dimension to her character.

This series has always been a lot of fun, and Deathwish is no exception. The plot keeps moving right along, full of twists and surprises, and the author makes absolutely splendid use of mythology from around the world to populate the secret supernatural society of New York. Vampires, werewolves, chupacabras, mummies, rat-things, peris, and many more all have their parts to play, and Thurman has put her own spin on a number of them just to make them even more memorable. And yet, it doesn’t feel crowded, like some of these urban fantasies do when you toss in too many critters and beasties.

The good news is, we get plenty of Robin, a character who could easily headline his own book — though it might have to come with a plain brown wrapper as a cover. The bad news is, we get very little of Georgina, the red-haired psychic who played a larger role in earlier books. Perhaps it balances out, but I miss her all the same. Nevertheless, there’s not that much else I can complain about. Some might find Cal’s constant worry and self-loathing and battery of issues to be annoying . . . but then again, that’s actually a plot point, his attitude recognized and barely tolerated by those who put up with him, and even he acknowledges he has problems to sort through. This is a story about some rather broken people, and how they cope, and how they’ve built a family, both in blood and in spirit, and how that family comes together in a time of crisis. And in the face of all that, it’s easy to forgive them their flaws. Thurman has done a great job of creating these flawed yet likeable, broken yet redeemable characters, and I’ll continue to follow their adventures as long as they’re available.

Deader Still, by Anton Strout (Ace, 2009)

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As an agent for New York’s Department of Extraordinary Affairs, Simon Canderous is used to all sorts of weird things, from killer books to evil cultists to unquiet apparitions. But even he has a lot to learn, as he discovers in his latest case. It all starts with a pit full of magically-conjured rats, courtesy of a Department test gone awry, and escalates after an entire boatful of bloodless lawyers turns up. (Go ahead, cue the lawyer jokes.) But what looks like the first vampire incursion in 737 days may just be something weirder, and far more personal, as more facts turn up.

As Simon tries to get to the bottom of things, his private life is thrown into chaos by the arrival of an unwelcome face from his criminal past, an ex-colleague who wants his help in one final heist. But her presence only serves to further destabilize Simon’s relationship with his girlfriend Jane, an evil cultist turned Department agent in her own right. Can he fight evil, steal a painting, battle zombie hordes, and still keep the girl, or will he wind up dead in a madman’s revenge-fueled artistic death trap, all before the paperwork on the vampire case dries? And just what’s bothering Simon’s partner, Connor? It’s days like this when Simon needs a raise. Or a safer job.

I’m really upset with Anton Strout: Deader Still is such a fast-paced, engaging, entertaining book that the pages seemed to fly by far too quickly. Take the New York of Men in Black and Ghostbusters, inject the same pop culture awareness and irreverence of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the Middleman, toss in a little Thomas Crown Affair, shake and stir, and you’ve got something fairly close to this book. Simon’s a believably accessible protagonist, who makes the same sort of mistakes we can all sympathize with, and his point of view really brings the right sort of life to the setting. There’s something inherently amusing in watching our heroes struggle with yards of bureaucratic red tape while trying to authorize replacement cell phones because the old ones were melted by accidental magic, or having a whiteboard in the office that counts off the days since the last vampire incursion, or good old-fashioned departmental in-fighting. There’s something weirdly satisfying in the mixture of killer art, books that attack, secret organizations that recruit at comic book conventions, and old-school revenge-driven evil masterminds.

I have to admit, I love the couple of Simon and Jane. He’s a former thief/con man turned government agent, she’s an evil cultist (in it mainly for the benefits package) turned researcher, and they’re an adorable couple when they’re not spatting. I dare say they could become the Nick and Nora Charles of the DEA, given the time and opportunity. Anton Strout has taken his influence from a wide array of cultural influences (I swear I detected a hint of Blues Brothers in there), and the end result is a cheerfully esoteric urban fantasy that blends humor and adventure in equal doses. I’m just sorry I finished Deader Still so quickly, as now I’ll have to wait for more. Really, this is good stuff, and a great read. I’d very much like a lot more where this came from.

Dayhunter, by Jocelynn Drake (Eos, 2009)

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Mira was happy when all she had to do was watch over her territory of Savannah, Georgia, making sure no nightwalkers or werewolves got out of line. Sadly, the quiet days are but a fading memory, as her nocturnal world becomes a treacherous nightmare. The naturi, ancient beings who’d love to wipe the Earth clean of humans and vampires alike, have come out of hiding, intent on freeing their queen and the rest of their kind from centuries of exile … and Mira is, quite unwillingly, the key to freeing or imprisoning them. The Coven, which rules the nightwalkers from its stronghold in Venice, has summoned Mira to do its bidding, but she’s tired of being used as a pawn, especially when she discovers an unholy conspiracy among its ranks.

Now, partnered with Danaus, an immortal who hunts nightwalkers, who’d as soon kill her as work with her, Mira has to survive the machinations of friend and foe. She has to outwit millennia-old vampires, outfight werewolves, outlast an army of naturi, and do it all without betraying the existence of the supernatural to the mortal eye. No wonder she misses Savannah. And what’s she to do about her growing affection for Danaus, when his very existence is dedicated to killing her kind?

Dayhunter continues the story begun in Nightwalker, about a world where vampires -aren’t- the worst things out there, a world where a shadowy war and ancient plans threaten a fragile peace. It’s about Mira, whose centuries of loyal service have been rewarded with betrayal and manipulation, a vampire who teams up with her mortal enemy out of necessity. It’s about fighting the greater of two evils, and praying you’ve made the right choice.

In the wrong hands, Dayhunter could easily be just another urban fantasy. But Jocelynn Drake has thrown in some intriguing twists on the old standards. Her vampires aren’t all bad; some of them even want to protect humanity. Her elves, on the other hand, are psychotic genocidal monsters who make the vampires quiver in their coffins. The supernatural races are hidden, as is pretty standard for the genre, but they’re preparing, slowly, to come out of the shadows after they’ve finished preparing the human race through media and pop culture acclimatization. Right there’s one of my favorite twists, the idea that the supernatural races have a decades-long time table for going public, and God help anyone who messes with it.

I’m torn between finding the language a tad overblown and flowery, and quite in tune with the narrator’s nature. Certainly, Mira does have a rather poetic way with her descriptions, and a tendency to overdo it with her observations (and a gift for repeating herself when it comes to describing people as nightwalkers, vampires, werewolves, hunters, and so on.) It’s a style which grows on you after a while, however, and it makes perfect sense given Mira’s age and temperament.

All in all, I enjoyed Dayhunter as much as I did Nightwalker. This continues to be a strong series with an intriguing premise and a clear sense of what’s at stake. The ever-shifting web of intrigue, betrayal, and temporary alliances ensures that if nothing else, Dayhunter is unpredictable and entertaining. I’ll be interested to see where the author’s going with this story in future installments.

Dancing on the Head of a Pin, by Thomas Sniegoski (Roc, 2009)

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The recent death of his wife Maddie has left Boston-based P.I. Remy Chandler in an emotional downward spiral, bereft of one of his major connections to the humanity he’s cultivated for millennia. For Remy’s no ordinary gumshoe; once upon a time he was Remiel, a Seraphim of the Heavenly Host, an angel who fought loyally for Heaven until the brutalities of war caused him to reject his duties, hide his nature, and adopt a veneer of humanity. Despite his best efforts to avoid the entanglements and trappings of his previous existence, his old life has a nasty habit of sneaking up on him. Recently, he helped to thwart the Apocalypse, and as a result, dark things are once again stirring at the edges of society.

Take his newest case: Remy’s been hired to track down a batch of weapons which vanished from a private collector’s vault. No ordinary weapons, these are older than mankind and filled with a dark power and purpose. Whoever possesses them could be an unstoppable killer … or use them for an even darker, more unthinkable purpose. All of a sudden, trouble’s crawling out of the woodwork, trouble that smells like Hell. Now Remy has to find the weapons known as the Pitiless, keep them out of the wrong hands, and puzzle out why the enigmatic Nomads, an angelic faction which refused to take sides, might be involved. The answers will take Remy and his allies into the depths of Tartarus itself, where fallen angels reside and Lucifer Morningstar himself is imprisoned. The balance between Heaven and Hell will be irrevocably altered, no matter how Remy handles this one. The only question is, what will it cost him? Even angels can die, under the right circumstances….

With this book, Sniegoski tosses his cards on the table, revealing that he’s working on a much larger scale than the average urban fantasy, and playing for a larger pot than the average noir detective tale. Remy may have started off trying to pull a simple retrieval job, but the events set in motion are centuries in the making, and the consequences are epic in nature. And yet, there’s an intensely human, personal aspect to Remy’s struggle to balance his Seraphim and human natures, his attempts to ground himself with friends and family and a mortal job even as Heaven comes knocking on his door to invite him home. Good thing he has his ever-loyal Labrador Marlowe and his cop friend Mulveville to keep him human when the Heavenly temptations get to be a bit much.

Dancing on the Head of a Pin is a tightly-woven mixture of mystery and dark fantasy, presenting an intriguing vision of a Hell reserved for fallen angels who have yet to earn their parole for good behavior, a place of punishment and imprisonment not for wayward humans, but for Heaven’s unfaithful children. It offers up a complex underground society of rebellious, disaffected, even war-traumatized supernatural beings who’ve fallen a long ways from their original glory. It even offers up a small hint as to what the war cost those who remained loyal; it seems no one escaped unscathed, and some wounds have never healed. A third book in the series is clearly a necessity, given the way things turn out in this one. The more Remy Chandler’s world unfolds, the more I want to see. I want to know his this saga turns out.

Child of Fire, by Harry Connolly (Del Rey, 2009)

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Hate your job? Be glad you’re not Ray Lilly, an ex-con who currently works as the driver and “wooden man” for Annalise Powliss, an enforcer for the mysterious Twenty Palace Society. She’s responsible for finding people who misuse magic, and shutting them down permanently, no matter what sort of damage she has to cause. And she hates Ray, living for the day when she gets to kill him. Obviously, this isn’t a partnership built on trust and mutual respect. The two of them have come to the tiny town of Hammer Bay, Washington, to investigate rumors of magic gone awry, and from the moment Ray sees a child burn to death, he realizes this case may be his last.

Children are dying, their very existences forgotten by friends and family in the wake of each spontaneous event. The cops aren’t to be trusted, the townspeople are hiding something, and all signs lead to Charles Hammer the Third, owner of a suspiciously-prosperous toy company and part of the Hammer family for whom the town is named. As each avenue of investigation gets shut down, Ray and Annalise realize the danger may be worse than they expected. Before long, Annalise is incapacitated by a magical attack, and Ray’s forced to pursue the truth on his own. Unlike Annalise, he’s no magician; he’s a thug with a few useful tricks and a penchant for getting the job done. He’ll bully, intimidate, brutalize, bluff, and fight his way through the worst Hammer Bay has to offer, from fire-breathing secretaries to corrupt cops, from psychotic prostitutes to the secret source of Charles Hammer’s influence and strength. It won’t be pretty, it won’t be clean, and it won’t be nice. But with the world at stake, and his own death pretty much a sure thing, what’s Ray Lilly got to lose?

Right from the start, Child of Fire yanked me into a dark and brutal world of hidden magics, small town secrets, and anything-goes action. Part of this book’s appeal lies in the intriguing setup, that of Ray and Annalise acting as roving enforcers for what clearly seems to be a ruthless society bent on saving the world heedless of the collateral damage. We honestly don’t learn a lot about the Twenty Palace Society, but enough tidbits are dropped to tickle the imagination. Comparison’s to Jim Butcher’s White Council or Laura Anne Gilman’s Mage’s Council might be in order, but I suspect these guys would make either of those esteemed groups look like Girl scouts in terms of kindness.

That moral ambiguity actually carries over to the main character, Ray, who exemplifies the grey area in just about everything he does. Is he a good man doing bad things, or a bad man doing good things? It’s not clear. We learn through the course of the story that he has a history of trying to help people through questionable, even inexcusable methods, and that he had no other choices at the time. Here, pressed on all sides by hostile forces and a growing sense of urgency, he’s forced to compromise his own beliefs time and again, to tarnish his soul repeatedly in an attempt to do the right thing. His antagonistic, hate-hate relationship with his boss, Annalise, doesn’t do him much good either. She’s willing to use him as just another tool, rather than as a person, and it’s fascinating to watch their interactions change over time.

Child of Fire is a hard-hitting addition to the urban fantasy field, full of mystery, violence, strange magic and stranger people, like if someone mixed together Jim Butcher and Stephen King and infused it with some Die Hard sensibilities. There’s a lot to like about this book, and I’m quite eager to see where the series goes from here. Connolly hits the ground running with this debut, and I couldn’t be happier.

Captain Freedom, by G. Xavier Robillard (Harper, 2009)

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Who is Captain Freedom? From his humble beginnings as an impressionable sidekick named Liberty Bill, to his glory days as savior of the world, to his forced retirement and subsequent adventures, this tell-all book, recounted in his own words, peels off the mask to provide an intimate look at one of the world’s most popular (and merchandisable) heroes. We learn all of his dirty secrets, from just how he first became a sidekick, to how he earned that role as top-billed hero in his own right, to how he saved the world multiple times, and how it all came crashing down around him. From adopting a sidekick to finding his father, from the dreadful cat-tossing incident to his foray into politics, no subject is too personal, or too embarrassing. Captain Freedom may be one of the world’s greatest (and commercialized) superheroes, but under the costume, he’s only human (half-alien) and vulnerable like the rest of us. This is his story, and you’ll never look at superheroes the same way again.

Robillard, best known for his humorous contributions to sites such as McSweeneys and Cracked, turns his sights onto the post-modern superhero in his first novel, and the final product is something akin to an updated version of Robert Mayer’s SuperFolks. The heroes and villains of this world are far more interested in commercial deals and licensing packages than one usually expects of such people, and there’s a fair amount of bureaucracy involved in the whole thing. From academies where would-be heroes and villains are trained, to the tests which determine one’s future in the business, to the strange influence the comic book companies have upon the characters they portray, to the desperate way both heroes and villains go looking for archenemies, this is a world where fame and fortune take precedence over sacrifice and responsibility.

There’s an inherently quirky, goofy, surreal charm to the world inhabited by Captain Freedom and his friends and enemies. It’s irreverent and silly, made all the more so with the knowledge that these people, however exaggerated, are acting just like real people with powers would, looking to cash out, looking for fame, looking for that perfect nemesis to complete their lives. On the flipside, it’s hard to take the story that seriously. Often, it seems like there’s very little beneath the surface, as though Robillard’s going for the humor and provoking our laughs by pointing at the hero’s flaws and foibles. I get the feeling that if logic was applied to the setting, it would collapse under the weight of its own inherent absurdity. So one has to tread lightly and accept that this is a work of humor and satire first and foremost, a pisstake on the superhero genre as a whole. Perhaps that’s one of those obvious conclusions, but still, it’s worth pointing out. Captain Freedom is a heck of an entertaining read, and those looking for a more profound tale will do better to keep moving. This spandex-wearing crusader for justice is a flawed, neurotic individual one step away from a VH1 reality show and desperate to avoid that fate at all costs . . . which ultimately makes him just like every other celebrity, only with the ability to punch comets.

I liked Captain Freedom, but found the absurdist humor and its blatant mugging for laughs to fall short of my own laugh reflex most of the time. It entertained, even amused, but didn’t quite stir me to anything more profound, so take from that what you will.