Dead Man Rising

By: Lilith Saintcrow

Welcome to another adventure with Dante Valentine, part necromancer part demon. Get ready for another great novel full of adventure, hunts of both humans and inner ghosts, and, not to mention, some major ass kicking. After the last hunt for Lucifer in the first novel Working for the Devil, Dante comes back to Saint City as part demon and mourning for the death of her demon-lover Japhrimel. Jace stays with Dante at her house as a roommate hoping that she will come around again and so she won't do anything stupid. Dante goes from one hunt to the next as fast as she can, with Jace in tow as backup, just to keep from thinking about her failure in Rio.

This story brings the past to the present with a serial killer who feeds off its victim's memories. But the victims all have one thing in common; they all helped kill their sadistic feeder headmaster, Mirovitch, from their old school, Rigger Hall. In order to save the day Dante herself has to dig up her literally buried ghosts from her own time at Rigger. She doesn't know who to trust throughout the story, but she is kept company by the voices of the dead that she hears. The victims of the past flood the present throughout the story inserting tid bits of information that helps both Dante and the reader put all the clues together to solve the case. Not to mention, the reader gets very informative pieces of information of Dante's past that she covets so strongly and see how she became who she is today.

This novel is a great sequel to Working for the Devil. It keeps the memorable characters alive from the first one throughout the sequel. It's also full of twists and turns and great action sequences. The author also does a great job on the details concerning the futuristic time and places. The main question that Dante keeps trying to figure out is can she bring a dead demon back to life? This thought plagues the book and the end she finally figures it out.

This novel is a great urban fantasy with a pinch of cyberpunk thrown in for good measure. Keep your eyes out for the third installment of Dante Valentine's adventures in The Devil's Right Hand coming this summer.

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