Item: Hunter's Moon
Rating: 4.00
Author: wyvernfriend

by David Devereux

"My name is unimportant, but you can call me Jack. I'm a musician by choice, a magician by profession, and a bastard by disposition.

I'd been doing the magic thing for about five years when they found me. They said I had a talent, that I was smart enough and fit enough and enough of a shit that I could serve my country in a way most people never even get to hear about. And I did want to serve my country, didn't I?

I didn't really want to contemplate what might happen if I said no."

And so Jack found himself on the front line of a secret war that most people simply wouldn't believe was possible. Working for a secret organisation tasked with defending our country from whatever supernatural threat faces it. MI5 know nothing about and would laugh if they found out. Well at first they would ...

Whether wiping out a group of demon summoners, infiltrating a coven determined to assassinate the PM or rooting out a neo-nazi sect who are trying to bring back Hitler from the dead Jack is a very modern sort of magician - trained in a variety of the dark arts but also a dab hand with a Heckler and Koch, skilled in unarmed combat and electronic surveillance.

David Devereux has combined the action writing of McNab and Ryan with dark supernatural thrills and produced a blistering new breed of supernatural thriller. This is Dennis Wheatley for the 21st century.

This one left me reeling. It's the story of Jack, well that's the name he's using when he introduces himself. He also says that he's "a musician by choice, a magician by profession and a bastard by disposition." and if that puts you off you should stop now. He was "encouraged" to join in the fight against evil magic and evil generally and does it with no qualm of conscience. He has accepted his job and is going to do it.

This time he's investigating a women's group, there have been some disappearances associated with it and this group seems to be getting their fingers in magic as well. He's authorised to use lethal force, and he does. As well as torture and all sorts of unpleasant things. But somehow he does all this calmly, in a very Dexter way, and the magic is a tool, something that he uses rather like the knife he's fond of.

There are some pretty intense scenes of torture and some sex involved so this one is definitely not for younger people, but he's a compelling character, no matter how unpleasant.

Hunter's Moon (Jack, #1)

by David Devereux

Reviewed by wyvernfriend on Oct 31, 2009

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