Date Published: September 2008
ISBN: 978-0-55358820-0
Paranormal Suspense
Paperback
Reviewed by Gina
Hope Adams is a tad more than the tabloid reporter delving into werewolf sightings about town. And she’s a tad more than a half-demon. Actually she’s got quite the pedigree in that she is Lucifer’s daughter. Yes, that Lucifer. She’s pretty much on her own, no real ties and only one commitment that looms from her past. Along the way she and werewolf Karl Marsten incurred a bit of a debt to the Cortez Cabal. Benicio Cortex, that would be Lucas Cortez’ father, hasn’t been in any hurry to collect, until now. Someone is setting up the Cortez Cabal and as the oldest and most powerful of the cabals, he needs to put a stop to it, but how? There’s a gang working in the neighborhood and what better way to get the scoop than to have a reporter, a tabloid reporter at that, investigate just what’s going on? He calls Hope and she agrees to help, sans Karl because the last thing she wants is to open the old wounds of his telling her to go on out and date other supernaturals.
When Karl hears what Hope is doing, he heads for Florida, determined to work by her side. Before he arrives though, Hope, posing as party girl Faith with an entre into gang, has met a potently sexy man named Jaz. From the first moment they meet Jaz puts the moves on Hope and she is on the verge of succumbing. Jaz is everything Karl is not. With Hope’s arrival, movement within the gang changes and instead of just stealing from unsuspecting humans, Cabal members begin to be killed. An even iller wind blows when members of the gang also begin to turn up dead. With things getting uglier and uglier, including the murder of two of Lucas’ brothers, Lucas and Paige head off to Florida to help out. What they find is almost beyond comprehension with finger pointing at the very top of the Cortez Cabal. e Fates.
I didn't like PERSONAL DEMON. There is little in the book for me to recommend and this was a huge disappointment for me because of how strong the writing was in BITTEN, HAUNTED and BROKEN. While a different series, EXIT STRAGETGY was one of the best reads I had all year. PERSONAL DEMON is a slide back to how I felt when I read DIME STORE MAGIC and INDUSTRIAL MAGIC. Admittedly I am not a fan of first person writing, but in the “Elena” books as well as Eve Levine in HAUNTED Ms. Armstrong turns me around. Those are so well done. In PERSONAL DEMON she has not only Hope, but Lucas in the first person point of view and at times it makes the reading tough going. It does not add to the drama, but makes following the story and who’s doing what hard to follow.
The connection between Jaz and Hope is instantaneous but there’s no true emotion with it. The story needs them to have a connection so it’s there, but I didn't feel it was true. I did like the turn around with Karl and he became a likeable character. I also liked Benicio – he does grow on you after awhile!
Hope is purported to be Lucifer’s daughter. There are a couple of references to Hope’s lineage, but nothing is much made of it. I felt more could have been done, perhaps even with an appearance of some sort by the…demon…himself. Over all though, I felt no connection to any of the characters and for the most part the book read like a travelogue of Hope and Lucas’ experiences.
From past books I know Ms. Armstrong is a talented and innovative writer. I look forward to the next Nadia Stafford book as well as her new Summoning series.
And, given that PERSONAL DEMON ends on the note that leads one to believe we haven’t seen the end of Jaz, I will probably read it and hope it is one of Ms. Armstrong’s pinnacle tales.
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