To Kill a Warlock (Dulcie O'Neil, #1)

by H P Mallory

The murder of a dark arts warlock.

A shape-shifting, ravenous creature on the loose.

A devilishly handsome stranger sent to investigate.

Sometimes working law enforcement for the Netherworld is a real bitch.

Dulcie O’Neil is a fairy. And not the type to frolic in gardens. She’s a Regulator—a law-enforcement agent who monitors the creatures of the Netherworld to keep them from wreaking havoc in the mortal world.

When a warlock is murdered and Dulcie was the last person to see him alive, she must uncover the truth before she’s either deported back to the Netherworld, or she becomes the next victim.

Enter Knight Vander, a sinfully attractive investigator sent from the Netherworld to work the case with Dulcie.

Between battling her attraction to her self-appointed partner, keeping a sadomasochistic demon in check, and fending off the advances of a sexy and powerful vampire, Dulcie’s got her hands full.

As the body count increases, Dulcie finds herself battling dark magic, reconnoitering in S&M clubs and suffering the greatest of all betrayals.

• ISBN10: 1453791760
• ISBN13: 9781453791769
• Publish Date: 1 August 2010
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Out of Print: 1 September 2015
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Createspace
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 208
• Language: English

Reviews

[nitzan_schwarz]

To find this review and more go to Afterwords!

You know those books that make you scratch your head at all the reviews and high ratings they have and wonder if you've read the same book? Perhaps someone trolled you and gave you a fake copy? Because there is no way all these people love this book if they read the same version you did? Yeah... this is one of those books.

When I got this book I was extremely excited - I had seen how highly rated Mallory's books came, and I was on an urban fantasy kind of kick so she was definitely on my authors-to-read list. And I was doubly excited to have the opportunity to read one of her books for free on kindle. I distinctively remember the squeal I let out, even now, five years later.

Unfortunately, all those fuzzy feelings died a quick death. May they rest in peace.

I simply couldn't stand the writing. I wish I could tell you what it was about it that gave me such a visceral reaction; the kind of response that makes you wince and grit your teeth and hope the torture would be over soon. Rare is the book that makes me feel this way, so in its own way, this read was very special to me.

Not to mention, this book had a lot of repetitions. That's a particular pet peeve of mine. And you know how sometimes when you're in a group and someone laughs at his own joke and everyone just stares at him because it wasn't all that funny and he says "get it? get it?". Well... that's how I felt about all the parts in this book that were obviously meant to make me laugh. They didn't.

Maybe if the characters were compelling the story would've been saved for me, but they simply weren't. I didn't like Dulcie's character at all. She is frankly quite the slut. I'm definitely okay with characters sleeping around when they're not in a relationship and women being secure in their sexuality, but I draw the line at leading several men on. At the same time. It just grates on my nerves. You can do all those things without hurting others in the process.

I mean, the book literally ends with several loose ends--and at least three guys--open and unanswered, with Dulcie having two upcoming dates (with two different guys) and receiving a cute present from a third.

(On a completely unrelated note - Knight is an incredibly stupid name for a character, and should be reserved to comic books if at all...)

And the bad guy was so obvious I simply had to sigh when he was revealed. I kind of had some hope Mallory will pull the rug from under my feet or something and at least give me a good twist or two. But nope.

During the entire time I was reading this book, the question "why the heck am I reading this book?" kept popping into my mind, flashing in colorful, glaring lights, demanding some sort of answer from me. Since I had none, I didn't give it any. If it was Present Me who was reading this novel, I would have DNFed it at around 20% if I were nice, but Past Me was a little more particular about dropping books, so she used all the willpower she had to finish it as quickly as she could so she could move on to greener pastures...

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Original Review:
To read this review and more, check out my blog: Drugs Called Books!

Edit: as I finally overcame my fear of one staring, I am now giving this book the one-star I felt it deserved when I read the book...

Alas, another book I was just glad to be done with (but luckily no money involved with this one), and another one I can't be bothered to write a pretty and well organized review for. You'll have to deal with the messy, or not. Your choice…

I've been so excited to read a H.P Mallory book since she's been on my authors-to-check list for a while, and even more excited when I got this as a free kindle book from Amazon!
Let's just say the excitement died pretty early on.

I couldn't stand the writing. Something about it just caught in my ear and made me wince, made me grit my teeth and hope this would be over soon. I can't even tell you what about it guaranteed such an extreme reaction, only that it did. Maybe it was Dulcie's voice itself that was the problem? I think I will be giving another of Mallory's books a try (though not any time soon) to check that out.

While reading this book the question why the heck am reading this book kept popping into my mind, flashing in...

To read the rest of the review, go here!

[Amanda]

Actual rating: 3.5

Dulcie is one tough fairy, with a secret desire to become a published writer, but she strikes me as someone who is tough to hide her vulnerability. These are my favorite kinds of characters. I enjoyed the rest of the cast, too. I even like that Knight Vander remains somewhat of a mystery, even after he and Dulcie team up. There is only light romance in this book, and while I often find myself wanting more romance, I think the amount of romance in this book works well, especially considering that this is the start of a series. The only thing I disliked about Dulcie is that she drives a yellow vehicle. I’m not a fan of yellow vehicles.

The mystery itself was a standard one, in terms of straight mystery, but the added element of paranormal creatures made it more entertaining. Considering HP Mallory’s two series are so different from each other, yet still stay true to her writing style, says a lot about the strength of her writing abilities. It is easy to stick to a formula, but I do not think this is the case at all here.

I was sucked into this book quite easily, and only put it down because I could no longer keep my eyes open. I did not even really think to figure out who might be behind it all, and for me to not do this means that I was utterly engrossed in the book, and unable to pull myself back; I was along for the ride. For me, this equals a successful book.

Full review: http://onabookbender.com/2011/06/20/review-to-kill-a-warlock-by-hp-mallory/