I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
The Devil's Due
by
Jenna Black
paranormal fantasy in a paperback edition that was published by Dell Books on November 25, 2008 and has 336 pages.
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Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Chicks Kick Butt, The Devil Inside, The Devil You Know, Speak of the Devil, The Devil's Playground, Dark Descendant, Deadly Descendant, Rogue Descendant, Nightstruck
Third in the Morgan Kingsley urban fantasy series set in an alternate Philadelphia where the story revolves around Morgan Kingsley, an exorcist who happens to be possessed by the King of the Demons, Lugh.
My Take
Lugh “brings” Morgan into his “world” when she dreams, dressing her…or not…with the level of seduction depending upon Lugh’s moods. This time, we discover the setting used when Lugh is angry with Morgan with a completely different sort of dress.
Morgan keeps going on about what a tough bitch she is…hah…she’s really a control freak who thinks in the immediate short term with no thought of consequences. Nor is she honorable. She makes deals and breaks them according to how she feels. I so prefer Lugh…at least he’s honest and he keeps his word. She’s also emasculating Brian. She doesn’t trust him. She doesn’t talk to him. Instead she simply uses him for sex.
I have to wonder what happens to the humans who set a demon-possessed human up. Even a false accusation requires an exorcism and that seems rather unfair. Although, when you consider that Maguire ends up brain-dead, it’s too bad that the exorcism went the way it did!
The Story
Their God’s Wrath son is suddenly possessed while the Brewsters are on vacation, and they want Morgan to perform an illegal exorcism — Claudia Brewster “knows” that Tommy, as a member of God’s Wrath, would never have agreed to being possessed.
While Morgan refuses to do anything illegal, the abrupt change in allegiance is enough to make Morgan question Tommy’s possession…intently…with Adam. And she learns that there is more than one demon hospital performing genetic experiments on humans.
Naturally, Morgan being Morgan, she can’t resist investigating on her own and ends up “paying for her information” with Shae, the owner of Seven Deadlies, a demon-haunted BDSM club. And, being Morgan, she screws up pretty well even though she does pick up an interesting bit of information about Tommy’s activities at the club, activities aided by Shae. It seems Tommy is not what he seems…
Then Morgan completes a routine exorcism. An exorcism that will have damaging results for her career and her personal life. Not to mention the bane of reporters pursuing…especially the one Morgan has dubbed “Reporter Barbie”.
The Characters
Lugh decides that as long as he’s stuck in Morgan that it would be prudent to set up his own Council in the Mortal Plains: Adam, Domenic, Morgan, Brian, Andrew, Raphael, and Saul.
Turns out demons don’t die when cast out, they merely return to the Demon Realm until their next opportunity to possess a human. The state of their human, after they’ve been cast out depends entirely upon how the demon treats the host while he possesses the human. So those humans who turn catatonic or die have been possessed by a demon who has brutalized his host. The only way to kill a demon is to burn them out.
The Cover and the Title
Well, they’re consistent in dressing Morgan inappropriately. Especially considering she still hasn’t recovered from her house fire and she really hasn’t replaced her clothing. I do note that we don’t see Morgan’s sword hilt tattoo so maybe the female model isn’t intended to be Morgan…I know, I’m whinging… I just get so irritated with covers that don’t relate to the story…
As for the title, The Devil’s Due. Hmmm, nope, no idea. If anyone figures it out…let me know!
