Sunday, November 25, 2007

Hunting the Demon - Jaci Burton


Hunting the Demon
Jaci Burton
Dell

Contemporary Romance/Paranormal

Note: If you haven’t read the first novel in this series, SURVIVING DEMON ISLAND, this review contains a few unavoidable spoilers. And, if you haven’t read the first book, you’ve missed a great read, just FYI.

Nic Diavolo comes from some serious money. The family owns a diamond mine in northern Australia. The one glitch is his life is the presence of a recurring dream. In the dream, he first runs from a swarm of beasts with talons, then is surrounded and worshipped by them. One morning, on his usual surf run, Nic spots a gorgeous and intriguing woman. After she’s gained his trust, he finds that she’s something far different than what he’d imagined. She is, in fact, his kidnapper.

Shay Pearson thought this assignment would be a snap. Find Nic Diavolo, find out what he knows and how he feels about his family heritage, and, hopefully, recruit him to the side of the good guys, the Realm of Light. The big snag in that plan is that she finds herself instantly attracted to him, for reasons both obvious and not so obvious. The Realm knows that Nic is half-demon. The question is, will be become a member of the Sons of Darkness, or can the Realm recruit him?

Nic feels justifiably betrayed by Shay’s actions, and there’s a whole new level of distrust added when he discovers that his own brother masterminded the plan. It should come as no surprise to learn that Nic manages to turn the tables on Shay at one point, getting even by perpetrating his own kind of betrayal. For my money, these two forgave each other far too easily and much too often, but, honestly, the novel is just so much fun that even this didn’t stop me from enjoying it.

Shay was introduced in the first book, but we find out much more about her and her abilities here. There’s a plot involving a black diamond – desired by both the Realm of Light and the Sons of Darkness - that takes the group into the mine, and also serves to set up the couple for the next novel, Ryder and Angelique. Nic and Shay are both great, complex characters, and I wish that the Ryder and Angelique story hadn’t intruded quite so much. That said, the author excels at combining action, intrigue, and paranormal elements, making the pages seem to turn themselves.

Rating: 8
September 2007
ISBN# 978-0-440-24336-6 (paperback)

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