Most girls might think twice before getting engaged to someone like Reyes Farrow---but Charley Davidson is not most girls. She's a paranormal private eye and grim reaper-in-training who's known to be a bit of a hell-raiser, especially after a few shots of caffeine. Her beloved Reyes may be the only begotten son of evil, but he's dark and sultry and deeply sexy and everything Charley could hope for. Really. But when the FBI file on Reyes's childhood happens to land in her lap, she can't help herself: She opens it . . . and then the real fun begins. First, Charley finds a naked corpse riding shotgun in her car. Then, a man loses his soul in a card game. Throw in a Deaf boy who sees dead people, a woman running from mobsters, and a very suspicious Reyes, and things can't get any worse for Charley. Unless, of course, the Twelve Beasts of Hell are unleashed. . . .
'Ubertalented Jones keeps stirring the plot and throwing in crazy new developments, guaranteed to keep her characters and readers off balance' RT Book Reviews
- ISBN10 1250045630
- ISBN13 9781250045638
- Publish Date 20 May 2014
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 9 February 2022
- Publish Country US
- Imprint St. Martin's Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 336
- Language English
Reviews
nitzan_schwarz
Also - I can't believe they did that!!
Berls
ellieroth
EBookObsessed
Charley Davidson is a private investigator and grim reaper. She can speak to the departed, which makes solving their deaths so much easier. Charley sometimes works with Uncle Bob, a detective with the Albuquerque Police Department to solve crimes.
NOTE: There might be small spoilers here on the emerging relationship between Charley and Reyes since the last book. You’ve been warned.
Charley has come up with a brilliant plan–maybe not so brilliant as evil–to get her Uncle Bob to ask out Cookie. She is setting Cookie up on a series of dates to make Uncle Bob jealous so he will finally work up the nerve to ask Cookie out himself. There is no way this won’t work. Right?
Charley has a new client. He needs helping getting back something he traded away — his soul. Charley is going to find “the Dealer,” a demon who is tricking individuals out of their souls. After spending months trying to protect Charley from demons, he is less then excited that she is going out looking for one and without him.
It seems the Dealer was a former slave who fought like a gladiator in the pits of hell but managed to escape even without Reyes’s key. A powerful enough demon to hold his own against the son of Satan.
The Dealer is willing to make a deal with Charley for her client’s soul, but can one every truly trust a demon.
Driving her car has become a little…complicated since she has a new passenger, naked old guy–excited, naked old guy. He must have been taking some Viagra before he died. Not only can’t she get him to talk, but he doesn’t seem interested in leaving. But naked old guy might be better than her resident corner dweller, Mr. Wong. Quentin, Pari and even Angel are starting to convince her that Mr. Wong isn’t your typical departed. He’s giving off an aura of power that Charley has never noticed before.
Charley also needs to go talk to Rocket, but after she almost attacked his little sister, Charley isn’t sure she will be welcomed at the abandoned asylum.
But someone does want to speak to Charley, or at least follow her around. APD Capt. Eckert is watching Charley. Is he trying to figure out how Charley is solving crimes for her Uncle or does he have a more devious reason for watching her every move?
THOUGHTS:
I love this series and the characters created by Darynda Jones. I gave my old ipod to my friend and we are in a bit of a race to finish. We were dying to talk about what’s going on in the series, but at this point we started overlapping so we couldn’t share without ruining it for each other.
If you like paranormal romance, definitely give this series a try. And I would highly recommend the audiobooks performed by Lorelei King. She truly brings the characters to life, especially Charley.
The binge audiobooks is having one bizarre side effect. All my thought are now in the voices of Charley and I tried writing an email the other day which was dictated in my head by both Charley and Cookie. I might have to check myself in for counseling soon.
Melanie
This is my favorite series on audio. The team of Darynda Jones writing and Lorelei King reading cannot be topped. This series brings everything I love in a great Urban Fantasy novel. It has suspense, snarky humor, violence and extremely hot sexiness. Put all of that along with wonderful characters and it is a recipe for greatness.
In this story, we have Charley dealing with her father, who has sold the bar to Reyes. There is something going on with him and Charley is worried. Reyes is trying everything he can to woo Charley even more. He bought her the apartment building she lives in. He bought her the asylum where Rocket and his sister lives.
One major side plot in this story, is Charley and Cookie trying to get Uncle Bob to "grow a pair" and ask Cookie out on a date. There is a decent amount of the story given to this part of the plot. It is pretty good as Cookie goes on "dates" to try to make him jealous.
As always, Charley working on a few cases, some paid and some for departed that she comes across. At the beginning of the story, she has a naked old man riding in Misery with her. She desperately wants to find why he is still around, because she is not a fan of sharing her beloved Jeep with a naked old man.
We meet a new character who will have a large role in the future, I believe. He is known only as "the dealer". He is a demon, who is eating souls. I also see Mr. Wong coming into play at some point. There has to be a reason for him.
I don't want to say too much more, because I don't want to give anything away. Let's just say, that this book is as good, if not better, than the first five books. It will make you laugh and it will make you cry (yes, my eyes did water at one point, I was really glad I was in my car and not at my desk at work). We have tons of Cookie, Angel, Reyes, Uncle Bob and Swopes. We have some of Rocket, Strawberry, Amador, Amber, Quentin and.Captain Eckert.
Lorelei King does another great job. She does a fantastic job with not just female voices, but also male voices. Each character has a very distinct voice and you never question which character is talking at any point in the story. You really feel the emotion she puts into the story. I've never read a book in this series, and I have no intention of ever trying as long as Ms. King is the narrator. In my opinion, she is one of those narrators who make the story "more".
I like to thank Macmillan Audio for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
kimbacaffeinate
Cocktails and Books
You can't help but love Reyes. Charley's grounded him, bringing out more humanity in him the longer they're together. If anyone is his salvage the mess that is Reyes, it's Charley.
Fabulous, fabulous book with a jar dropper of an ending. Good thing we only need to wait six months for the next one.