If you've read the first 5 books in the series, you know what to expect. If you haven't, don't start here.

This volume picks up right after book 5, For a Few Demons More, which includes some shockers that I really don't want to mention here for anyone who hasn't read that one and it makes talking about ODW difficult without spoiling FFDM.

ODW is similarly dense in twists, turns, and revelations. The official Hollows mailing list banned all discussion of it until six weeks after publication, an unprecedented move for the list. They opened the list for readers of advanced copies to everyone and moved any discussion of plot--or even reactions to the book as a whole--to there.

So, with that caveat, I'll do my best to do this spoiler-free. I will mention things from the first chapter, which has been available in the paperback of FFDM and on Harrison's web site for several months, and anything from books 1-4 is fair game. I'll try to avoid major spoilers for book 5.


ODW picks up where FFDM left off. Our protagonists are Rachel Morgan, witch and "runner" (PI-cum-"fixer") and her partners/roommates, Ivy (a vampire in love with Rachel and dealing with shakeups in the criminal underworld she's connected to and could choose to run if she pressed it) and Jenks (a roguish pixy who plays mediator and brings common sense to the team) and their assorted allies, friends, and regulars: the werewolf who has Rachel serve as on-paper Alpha Female of his pack, the elves-in-hiding Trent Kalamack (ally and enemy by turns), Ceri, and Quen, the mysterious witch across the street, and a by-the-book FIB (not a typo--FIB is not FBI) agent. Plus the three demons who have been harassing Rachel for books on end, now seemingly no longer restricted by the contracts that bound them and fighting desperately for their own lives, using Rachel as a bargaining chip.

Oh, and her mom. Her mom's a major character in this one.

And right there we see the major point of ODW. The series has always had a huge focus on family, both chosen and born. Rachel forms a family with her business partner and with a small werewolf pack, and recovers her ties to her blood family while driving herself to live up to her father's legacy. Ivy deals with the psychological damage the criminal and corrupt vampire community (run, like the agency that polices vampires, by her extended family) has done. Jenks fights from day one to protect his family against the day he dies, which is coming far too soon. And the elves are trying to rescue their whole species, which is so much in danger of dying that they've faked their own genocide to maintain their culture.

So Rachel winds up having to work with her mother and reveal some of the dangers she faces in her daily life. In exchange, her mother reveals... well... quite a few things. Her mother is mostly doing well in this book; she has few of the lapses into confusion and dementia that have plagued her since her husband died and Rachel works to understand what her mother needs in her life, as well as leaning what her mother can do to help them both.

Harrison is at her best when she focuses on the relationships between the characters(*) and how Rachel and Ivy are learning to connect with other people; this book has a lot of navel-gazing, but it's interesting navel-gazing and never gets in the way of the story.

This is a book of revelations: secrets about Rachel's mother (and father) that go as deep as the ones revealed in books 1 and 2, secrets about the elves (although revelations about them are a staple of 5 of the 6 books), and even secrets about the demons. Harrison is revealing some of the history, convolutions, and even magical theory behind the Hollows. She's at her best when writing complex, interconnected storylines and pulling back the covers inch-by-teasing-inch(*).


As the title suggests, the major action revolves around the demons. The "outlaw demon" is Big Al (her not-so-affectionate nickname for the demon who vexes her life the most), who was imprisoned in the last book for breaking laws and endangering all the demons' livelihood. Someone is summoning him out of the demons' custody and setting him free to do what he wants, which is to kill or kidnap Rachel. Rachel has to navigate demon politics (and legal system!), keep Al off her back, find the person summoning him and find out why s/he's doing it, and try to keep the deadly and enigmatic demon Newt from getting involved. And if she can learn something about why she is one of two witches in the world who can perform demonic magic along the way, all the better.

On top of this, of course, Trent has "urgent" (and risky) business he'll cajole, threaten, or trick Rachel into doing for him. As usual.

And, of course, deal with her family as her mom gets more involved than Rachel ever wanted.

The book has the usual good action scenes--Harrison is at her best with the action(*)--with the chases, skulking, bluffing, magical attacks, and shoot-outs we've come to expect Rachel to get herself into. Every one makes sense and none get too long or convoluted. Harrison's writing on this has improved steadily across the series.

We have the expected evolution of Rachel and Ivy's ongoing and messy relationship. It isn't as mesmerizing or intense as in the last two books and doesn't have the pyrotechnic writing of books one and five, but it works great and leads to a truly beautiful and heart-wrenching moment. As we saw in FFDM, Ivy is maturing emotionally at an amazing rate and we get a touching insight into her life, especially after the events in FFDM that turned her emotional life upside-down.


So, net net. Is it a good book? Yes. Is it the best book in the series? Hard to say. It has the most information and advances the world story the furthest, but it's not the most "detectivey," "noir," or funny (although I wanted to read funny lines to my girlfriend all throughout, as usual; she forbade me to since they all had spoilers). If you're doing to read book 7, you have to read this one, of course, and you will enjoy doing so. It just may well have some of your favorite moments.


* And I should clear one thing up. Kim Harrison is at her best when she's writing. At least, she is as a writer; I don't know about her personal life. The writing in this series started good, with moments of pyrotechnic genius, and it's just getting better as the characters and world settle in.