The Cirque de Charnu has come.
They will clean out the demons and the suicides, and move on. As long as they stay within the rules, Jill Kismet can't deny them entry. But she can watch--and if they step out of line, she'll send them packing. When Cirque performers start dying grotesquely, Kismet has to find out why, or the fragile truce won't hold and her entire city will become a carnival of horror. She also has to play the resident hellbreed power against the Cirque to keep them in line, and find out why ordinary people are needing exorcisms. And then there's the murdered voodoo practitioners, and the zombies. An ancient vengeance is about to be enacted. The Cirque is about to explode. And Jill Kismet is about to find out some games are played for keeps... |
“But when a girl's motivated, miracles are possible.”
Even if I don't love these books, for some reason they're pretty much impossible for me to put down. This one involves a demonic circus that has come to town to drain the suicidal and the hopeless. It must be allowed and is a rule of coordination between hunters, the lead hellbreed of the city, and the cirque. Strange - but interesting - stuff.
Saul is back this time, but there is trouble in the air with their relationship. That's kept up for the entire back until the end, where the resolution seems a little slight and silly. With that being the reason, it kind of seems invented to throw something in without enough backbone. Still, it makes interesting reading and I couldn't wait to see what was going on.
Jill seems more exhausted than before, but this is likely from the relationship struggles weighing in with her ridiculously busy, stressful job. She's still not totally likeable, but in a way can be - there are some small flashbacks to her thinking about her mother, which I found interesting. She certainly had a rough life. I do wish she could stop and listen to her man some, she's on a constant rollercoaster and I think that without Saul, she would likely have lost it or been dead by now.
Perry is in the book a lot more - thankfully. His scenes are riveting. I'm curious how Saintcrow will wrap that up, although I'm imagining it will probably be violent (sadly.) The villains in this one have a twist and Jill has to seek help, voodoo shops, and all sorts of things to solve this mystery. As far as stories go for the series, it's a pretty good one. The circus is dark and carries that depressing vibe I can easily picture. When Jill was experiencing the music, I could almost hear it myself.
Sometimes the action grows too monotonous to where it wouldn't hurt to let it up and breathe some, but at least with these shorter novels a lot of punch is delivered in events and twists.
Book Quotes:
“Avery: "Humility is a virtue, Kismet."
Jill: "So's discretion. I suck at both. Didn't you notice?”
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