I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Beneath the Skin
by
Adrian Phoenix
urban fantasy in a paperback edition that was published by Pocket Books on December 29, 2009 and has 415 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include A Rush of Wings, In the Blood, Etched in Bone, Black Dust Mambo, Black Heart Loa, On Midnight Wings
Third in The Maker’s Song urban fantasy series set in New Orleans although this particular story takes place mostly in Oregon.
My Take
Talk about why we need openness in government!! The FBI and their Shadow Branch have run amuck — especially when they’re mucking about with their own agents! And using their authority to pursue their own personal agendas . . .!
Dante’s too decent for any of them and every time they try to hurt him, I just want him to lash out! Why is it that criminals always think their evil actions are acceptable and when someone tries to stop them, then the crooks think they’re justified to retaliate!?? What, they never heard that “turn about is fair play”?
I am curious to find out what happens if the “statues” from “Angelhenge” come alive when they get to the government facility in Alexandria . . .
Heather keeps being drawn in deeper and deeper into Dante’s mind and now Dante is drawing Von in.
I try to divorce myself from my own reader perspective and think of Annie as if she were my sister. It’s very difficult. No matter what, I just want to shove her out the door and roar off without her.
I do love, though, when the good guys get the turnabout and shock them all with Dante’s power and willfulness.
The Story
Cortini discovers the truth and crosses that line helping Heather, Dante, Von, and Annie escape from to hole up in a motel. Only Morningstar breaks in, then seduces Annie who can see him due to her mis-wired brain. Annie is all too willing to give Dante up to him, and it’s only Morningstar’s desire for Dante to willingly accept him that prevents Morningstar from taking him — I know, it’s exhausting. And this is just the first chapter or so!
Meanwhile, the FBI has found the crater and the statueized Fallen and orders are flying back and forth contradicting how Dante and company are to be treated while Matthias is planning to play both ends against the middle.
Life for Dante and company only gets more complicated after the shoot-out and its amazing aftermath which has just about every agent involved questioning their orders. While that old saw about power corrupting sees the people in charge with their own agendas and plans to use Dante for their own ends.
The Characters
Heather Wallace is an FBI agent. Annie, Heather’s sister, is bi-polar and air-headed with a mis-wired brain.
Dante Baptiste Prejean, a rock star, is a Maker/Unmaker, a Pure Blood, and his existence is highly prized by the Elohim who want to control him. That he is also a vampire ensures that vampires also want to control him. Unfortunately for Dante, he was born in a top-secret lab affiliated with the FBI and horribly, horribly abused as a child in an experiment called Bad Seed. Where they created their own pet psychopaths and released them into society to see what they would do. The remaining members of Dante’s “family” are Von, Tyler, and Simone.
Von is a Nomad and a vampire. He works as a roadie for Dante’s band, Inferno, and takes care of Dante as well. Tyler is the resident vampire computer genius who can find out anything on the Internet and Simone is Tyler’s sister.
Lucien de Noir, a.k.a. Samael, is one of the Fallen, an Elohim, as well as Dante’s father. Imprisoned by Gabriel and Morningstar by having his wings banded via a spell, Hekate, Gabriel’s daughter, will help him escape if he will rescue her mother, Lilith. Gabriel and Morningstar are both Fallen and have been sharing the throne of Gehenna for two thousand years. Ever since Lucien killed Yahweh, a Maker who was going insane.
Matthias and Justine are the ruling vampire couple in New Orleans, and Etienne was one of Justine’s. She is so not happy that Dante killed Etienne. The very Italian Renata is Caterina’s mother and a vampire; Giovanni is one of her people. She fully intends to recover Dante for the vampires. Her vampires.
The Agency
Special Agent-in-Charge Lyons is with the agency wiping agents’ memories and one half of a pair discovers her human partner’s wipe just before heading out to her own “debriefing”. Caterina Cortini was the agency’s go-to girl for wetwork, but as the daughter of a vampire raised on stories of Pure Bloods . . . well, the agency hasn’t a chance.
The Cover and Title
The primary colors of the cover are fuchsia and a beautiful, bright, mossy green with Heather wearing the fuchsia as a tank top, her legs spread wide for balance near the bottom of a flight of stairs.
I suspect the title refers to Heather and Von being sucked into Dante’s nightmare memories. It could also refer to what people are truly like Beneath the Skin when they have the ability to use power for themselves. Dang scary thought . . . eh???
