Night Child - Jes Battis

Night Child
An OSI Novel
Jes Battis
Ace

Urban Fantasy

Tess Corday is an Occult Special Investigator (OSI) working for the clandestine organization CORE. Called to the scene of a murder, she’s pretty surprised to find that the dead body is that of a vampire. Even more strange, the scene seems to be staged; and cleaned of all trace evidence. The only clues are a photo and an address, written in vampiric script. The address, once translated, leads Tess and her telepathic partner, Derrick, to thirteen-year-old Mia Polanski and her Aunt Cassandra.

There’s something odd about Aunt Cassandra, but Tess has bigger problems. Her boss tells her, in no uncertain terms, that her career trajectory in taking a decidedly southward path. She needs to work this case, successfully, following the rules, or face losing her job. Tess has never been big on rules. And rules pretty much fly out the window when a demonic assassin barges into her living room and tries to kill her. Clearly, she’s stepped on some pretty big toes. She’d better find out whose toes they are before she, Derrick, and Mia are all toast.

In any first novel of a series, the author has to introduce the characters and the world to the reader. A lot of that introductory stuff gets buried in a mountain of CSI-type detail. Clearly, the author did a lot of research and was working to make this aspect of the novel as realistic as possible. But there comes a time, fairly early on, when enough is just too much. As a reader, I’d rather get to know the characters and the unique world created here. By the conclusion of the novel, the plot moves quickly and the finale is quite satisfying. The basic premise for the series is exciting, and it will be very interesting to see where Tess and the other characters go from here.

Rating: 6 ½
June 2008
ISBN# 978-0-441-01602-0 (paperback)