I LOVED this book. It’s got fun. It’s got depth. It’s definitely going to stick with me. It’s going to hard to do it justice in a review, but here goes. The premise, characters, and world are unique and compelling. There are a couple of trigger warnings (see the end of this review), but nothing graphic or extreme.

THE CHARACTERS:
Mira’s not normal for a human. The demon she shares a body with is no normal demon. It’s an unlikely partnership, but it works. Mira is a rifter, a human possessed by a demon. But unlike other rifters, Mira and her demon found a way to share a body for years without it being destroyed by the strain of housing a demon. Unlike other demons, Mira’s demon is happy to let her remain in control of her body whenever possible. Mira’s demon is just interested in helping Mira, protecting the two of them, and bringing murder and mayhem to the demons on Earth that are hurting humans. It’s a strange partnership and an even stranger friendship.

Mira and her demon have numerous mental conversations throughout the book. They’re always interesting and Braden avoids confusion by showing Mira’s thoughts in italics and the demon’s thoughts enclose by symbols. Mira and her demon also have have distinctly different voices, speech patterns, and personalities. They’re both snarky and sarcastic, but with completely different styles.

Mira is a practitioner (of magic), with a big power boost courtesy of her demon. Mira’s powers are imaginative, vividly described, and just downright cool. Example: “Wiggling her fingers Mira grabbed hold of a shadow and pulled it around her like a cape.” Coolest camouflage ever. Her powers are far from absolute and they come with plenty of catches. With great power comes great danger if you lose control. She uses their powers to help people, protect people, and protect herself. To do this, she hunts demons who hurt innocents. Officially, she’s a normal PI. The world is not friendly to practitioners, and it’s certainly worse for rifters. Mira’s tough, but lonely. Mira’s past has left her a bit of a cynic, but she never gives up fighting for what’s right.

Mira’s demon chose her because she’s a fighter with a good heart who will risks herself to protect others. This demon first found young Mira in trouble and came to her aid. It’s not like the demon isn’t getting plenty out of the deal. She found a rare human that is not only moral and trustworthy, but is also compatible, capable and willing to live as a joined creature, two consciousnesses sharing one body. A good match for a demon with a (metaphorically) good heart hidden behind snark and sarcasm. I’m pretty sure Mira’s demon is secretly a bit of a romantic and optimist.

Mira’s demon is just that: hers. Her partner. Her friend. Loyal to her. Concerned not just with Mira’s survival, but her happiness. Mira and her demon genuinely care about each other, treat each other as equals, and know each other better than anyone.

The other major character is Detective Ty Williams: a cop who doesn’t trust his instincts after losing his last partner. When Mira becomes a suspect, Ty must decide whether to trust his instincts and believe Mira is trying to stop the real bad guys. Ty’s intuition, confusion, grief, guilt, and drive to do good are raw and compelling. He clearly struggles with PTSD, but he’s never portrayed as weak or incompetent because of it. In fact, it highlights just how strong and skilled he is.

I grew to love Mira, her demon, and Ty for their depth of character, bravery, intelligence, and uniqueness. Every mistake they made only made me love them more.

THE PLOT:
A routine demon hunt puts Mira and her demon on the trail of a sinister plot brewing in Baltimore. This investigation soon gets Mira wanted by the police. How could she run away when people could be in danger from this mysterious sinister plot? The mysteries in this book will have you on the edge of your seat.

THE WRITING:
As a spin off from the Magicsmith series, this book is set in a fully-realized world with a well developed magic system and history. However, this series-starter definitely delves boldly into new conflicts and uncharted waters. I didn’t read the Magicsmith series before reading this and had no problems, so this new series can definitely stand on its own. Although after reading this book, I’m eager to dig into the Magicsmith series set in the same universe!

This tale was told with fantastic imagery without slowing the story down. I was able to picture just about everything that happened. The pacing of this book was perfect, which is very rare. Things are constantly moving and never rushed. The plot has plenty of great twists and turns. The ending is satisfying, mostly happy, unpredictable, believable, and sets things up for the next book. I eagerly await the next books with excitement and anxious hope that they are just as good as this one.

THE THINGS THAT BUGGED ME (AT FIRST):

There were a couple things in this book I had some qualms about and kept bugging me. But then I realized that they’re supposed to. Things aren’t supposed to be black and white, simple, or easy in this book. They’re supposed to be murky. These things were supposed to be problematic. The things that bothered me at first turned out to give the story moral complexity and depth and create a world full of shades of grey. A world where both darkness and hope can coexist in a story, just like they so often do in the real world.

Here’s the first thing that bugged me: The Mira and the demon have an agreement to take turns choosing how they burn off the energy they need to get Mira back in the driver’s seat after a big power-boost. The demon always chooses a one night stand and Mira chooses exercise. The demon having sex in Mira’s body that she technically agreed to but isn’t thrilled about isn’t exactly the picture of freely given consent. Mira also takes risks that could kill them both to help others with her demon only half on-board with the plan. I think these things are supposed to be problematic. Things are morally dubious and complex when you have two distinct entities sharing a body, even voluntarily. The consciousness in the driver’s seat is always making decisions for the other party that could affect them both. Even with permission from the party not in control, it’s not exactly freely given consent.

Here’s the second thing: For each possessed human that dies when Mira kills the demon possessing them, she makes a cut on her leg, prays, and deliberately doesn’t heal it in order to leave a scar as some sort of penance. She does this even knowing that the demonic possession would surely have killed the human eventually. She does this despite her demon’s very concerned objections. (Notice the demon preserves her free will and lets her make her own choices, even bad ones). This definitely is not portrayed as healthy behavior, but as a sign of the toll that guilt and past trauma have taken on Mira. This adds a layer of darkness to a book with an ultimately hopeful message. I hope to see Mira find enough peace to kick this unhealthy coping mechanism in future books.

Warnings: self-harm (with no suicidal intent), sex (1 scene only, not very graphic). The content of these warnings is further discussed above in the THE THINGS THAT BUGGED ME (AT FIRST) section.

Thanks to Bell Bridge Books and NetGalley for a free e-copy in exchange for an honest review. ( )