Review--Mark of the Demon

COP AND CONJURER OF DEMONS, SHE'S A WOMAN IN DANGER OF LOSING CONTROL--TO A POWER THAT COULD KILL.

Why me? Why now? That's what Beaulac, Louisana, detective Kara Gillian was asking herself when an angelic creature named Rhyzkahl unexpectedly appeared during a routine summoning. Kara was hoping to use her occult skills to catch a serial killer, but never had she conjured anything this unearthly beautiful and unspeakably powerful being whose very touch set off exquisite new dimensions of pleasure. But can she enlist his aid in helping her stop a serial killer who's already claimed the lives--and souls--of thirteen people? And should she? The Symbol Man is a nightmare that the city thought had ended three years ago. Now he's back for an encore and leaving every indication on the flesh of his victims that he, too, is well versed in demonic lore.

Kara may be the only cop on Beaulac's small force able to stop the killer, but it is her first homicide case. Yet with Rhyzkahl haunting her dreams, and a handsome yet disapproving FBI agent dogging her waking footsteps, she may be in way over her head...

Finished this last night, but was too tired to post a review. And all I have to say is WOW! A friend of mine at the Pride, told me how good it was and that I should read it. So since I'm still waiting on a book to come in the mail, I did! And it was GREAT!

Mark of the Demon by Diana Rowland was beautifully written! The demon names are so rich and flavorful for them being mostly self-serving creatures. The names are so complex and it's amazing that Rowland was able to continually type their names with what was likely ease! I wonder what kind of research she had to do to know things of demon lore or if the names were made up? Anyone know?

The police procedures were even written nicely, having no knowledge of police procedures outside of television shows, I was able to follow it easily enough. For the most part, TV has it down pat, but some details get left out because they are not TV worthy and we get to see some of that in the book.

The characters were just awesome, I loved Kara! She is totally an original character that is relateable to several people in the world today. She knows she's not the perfect image of a woman, not being super skinny and having a plain face, but yet she is successful at her job after being promote recently and then she's given the Symbol Man case and has a lot to prove that she is worthy of this job and position.

But then all hell breaks loose. Not literally, yet... That's really not a clue or anything, hell doesn't not break loose, but the shit does hit the fan as it is wont to do! The Symbol Man case, that went cold for a few years is back in action with the return of the killer himself, who still remains a mystery. With Kara on the case she sees what no one else can, that the Symbol Man is adverse with demonic lore and procedures, like she is. The Symbol Man is a summoner, she finds this out fairly easily.

Soon things get really intense, Rhyzkahl, the demon that entered her summoning circle somehow continually visits her dreams and she is wary of him. Demons are self-serving creatures, so the fact that he has been hanging around her for so long nags at her. Plus she still has to deal with the FBI agent who seems to belittle her as do a few others who think she is too much of a rookie for the case.

Kara has to prove everyone wrong, because she knows what she is doing. But the murders keep happening, the body count rises and the boss doesn't like that and threatens to take her off the case. She buys herself 1 day to make headway or else risk getting fired. But a lot more happens and soon the Symbol Man is revealed.

The secondary characters are very important to this story, it may be Kara's p.o.v. and her story, but the others in her life play very key roles in the mystery itself. The mystery aspect was good too, never saw it coming as to who the Symbol Man was. I had another theory coming completely! Going to buy the second one, Blood of a Demon, today and add it to my TBR pile. Instead of reading Soulless next, I feel I need to re-read Jaye Wells' Red-Headed Stepchild, because I can't remember it very well. Read it last year in like 1 day so my memory is fuzzy and book 2 in that series comes out in 3 weeks. And of course still have homework and work and all that other fun stuff to work on in between as well.