Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Carnal Sin-Allison Brennan

Carnal Sin
Allison Brennan
Ballantine, Jun 22 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780345511683

For seven years Moira O’Donnell trained for one thing as she moved from place to place to stay safe. Her goal is to prevent her evil mother, the queen of the underworld Fiona and the woman’s vile lover Matthew Walker from bringing demons across through his Good Shepherd Church in which they created a portal enabling the malevolent to walk this world. With allies like Rafe Cooper and demonologist Anthony Zacarddi, she faced down the first deadly sin Envy left trapped in a vault in Santa Louisa, California at a cost to the team (see Original Sin).

As Fiona has doubts that Santa Louisa is the “beacon for evil”, a report of an odd case in Los Angeles reaches them. A nice forty years old Kent Galion attacked a blonde before being subdued by Detective Grant Nelson; Galion died. Moira saw the vision of a demon possessing a man. She and her posse rush to L.A. as Lust is loose at the Velocity nightclub; men marked by the demon are dying for hard sex.

The second deadly Sin urban fantasy is a strong suspense thriller that grips the audience with the opening assault at Velocity and never slows down as the beleaguered hero team face off against a powerful demon and a coven protecting the evil. The cast, especially the good gals and guys are fully developed so that the reader knows their desires, flaws, and other distractions and detractors as much as their strengths. For instance, Moira fears she will hurt a teammate when she goes into her visionary trance and fears falling in love again; having lost a beloved soul before. Carnal Sin is a superb urban fantasy thriller as Allison Brennan is two for two.

Harriet Klausner

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