Tuesday 13 July 2010

Review: Speak of the Devil - Jenna Black

America's most successful exorcist, Morgan Kingsley, is paying the price for an exorcism gone wrong.  The victim's family is suing the daylights out of her, the Exorcism Board has suspended her, and now she's living on a diet of ramen noodles and bad coffee.  But Morgan has a few good men at her side.   One is her current boyfriend, nice-guy legal eagle Brian, who's suddenly starting to reveal his inner bad boy.  The other is Philly cop Adam White, who's trying to help Morgan find out who sent her a little present - a severed human hand - and why someone seems determined to destroy her.

As her stalker turns more violent, leaving dead bodies in his wake, Morgan must choose between her friends, her enemies and her libido in order to escape a mad demon determined to destroy her completely.

Morgan Kingsley Series:
The Devil Inside
The Devil You Know
The Devil's Due
Speak of the Devil
The Devil's Playground

For more information visit Jenna Black's website

Review:
Morgan is in trouble again, she is being sued by the family of a client she exorcised after he was left brain dead and she has been suspended from her job while the case is ongoing.  She has no money and no income and doesn't know how she can afford to pay for a lawyer to defend her.  To top it all off her stalker's behaviour has started to escalate, starting with a severed human hand in the mail, but what else are they capable of? 

I love the premise of this series, Jenna Black has created an original world with a fab take on demons who possess human bodies.  The ongoing war between Lugh (the demon king who just happens to be riding along in Morgan's body) and his brother Dougal is intriguing and I'm very curious about how things are going to turn out.  Overall I feel like I should absolutely love this series but it always seems to miss just a little for me and while I still enjoy each installment none of the books so far have blown me away.

I find it hard to like Morgan at times, she can be very self-centred and her trust issues drive me crazy.  She is like a bear with a sore head most of the time but then every so often she says or does something that make me really want to like her.  I was pleased to see a lot of growth from her in Speak of the Devil, not as much as I was hoping for but still a significant amount that gives me hope for her in the next book in the series. 

I actually like most of the secondary characters a lot more than I like Morgan.  I found myself starting to really like Adam in the last book and this has continued as we get to see more of how much he cares for Dominic (and even Morgan) in this one.  I love Adam and Dom as a couple and am glad to see that things are going well for them.  It was Raphael's turn to surprise me in this book - I've never liked or trusted him but we get to see a nicer side to him which has made me start to see why he is in Lugh's council.  It was nice to see Brian stick up for himself a bit more but I would have liked to have seen more of Lugh.

Overall in Speak of the Devil we get to see quite a lot of character growth and there is enough of a plot to keep the story moving along.  If you're a fan of the series it is worth checking this one out and if you're looking for a new series to try then I would recommend this one.  Be aware that each book does include some M/M and BDSM but in most cases these scenes are fairly mild so even if that isn't your usual reading material you shouldn't find it too heavy going.  I'm looking forward to reading the next book (The Devil's Playground) but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for more character development with Morgan and hopefully some more action from Lugh and Dougal.

Source: Library

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

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