REVIEW: Carpe Demon by Julie Kenner

Dear Mrs. Kenner,

I first read this book last year when it came out in trade paperback but when Jane got a MMP copy this month, she asked me to refresh my memory, do a letter and then we give it away to some lucky reader. I said sure, will do. Well, I ended up doing more than just skimming and instead read the whole darn thing again (I swear Jane, it’s the truth, that’s why this is so late) and didn’t I end up just as enthusiastically devouring it the second time as the first.

Kate Connor thought the hardest thing in her life was getting all her errands run while keeping her toddler and teenager from getting cranky and or bored. That was until a demon burst through her plate glass kitchen window and tried to kill her while she getting the appetisers warmed up for her husband Stuart’s election party. Now she’s got to hide the body as well as finish getting dressed and cleaning the house. A piece of cake for a Fourth Class Demon Hunter.

Later, a quick phone call to her old mentor in the Vatican confirms Kate’s got a worse problem than she realized. There’s now a major demon infestation in her small California town and since she’s the only Hunter available to deal with it, it means she has to deal with it. Kate had hoped that when she retired from the demon hunting Forza Scum, she could settle down into quiet suburbia. No such luck. Now with the help of her new alimentatore advisor, she’s got to find out what the demon forces are after and keep them from getting it. And deal with her family life as well.

The second time through, I could appreciate how you keep the identity of the major demon hidden until the end of the story while still dropping clues for us. Very well done! I enjoyed Kate’s relationship with her daughter Allie even more. I did have a little trouble with Kate and Stuart. I know he’s a busy lawyer and running for election but the man is a little too clueless.
I also had a problem with lack of backstory for Kate but having read the sequel, California Demon, I know this is slowly being cleared up.

Readers looking for a paranormal which doesn’t make the otherworldly creatures cute, cuddly or merely misunderstood but pure evil might want to check this one out. It’s fast and funny but the slightly sarcastic humor doesn’t start to grate by halfway through the book as some books of this style will. And it proves that any modern mother who can keep her family straight, fed and in clean clothes can whip a demon’s butt any day. B for Carpe Demon.

~Jayne