Infernal choices: part 1 five star review!

5.0 out of 5 stars BBW Eliza Black is on the case--part one of an exciting new paranormal adventure July 12, 2014
By katherine tomlinson
Format:Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase

This new series cracks off with a killer of a first line that tells us this isn’t going to be just any story about a kick-ass heroine. Eliza Black is big, beautiful, brunette, irreverent, and smart. Father Michael Bishop is serious, angry, frustrated and guilty. Cardinal Samuel Duncan was tortured and murdered while Fr. Michael slept in another room in the rectory and he can’t forgive himself for letting that happen.

Eliza knew Cardinal Duncan almost as well as Bishop did—she knows he had a taste for whiskey and a penchant for betting on the ponies (but only the spotted ones, which she never understood. The investigation into his death is important to her but for Bishop, it’s personal. Personal, and dangerous to both of them as Eliza’s hacker colleague Tesla Jones points out.
Fr. Michael isn’t the only churchman interested in solving the case and as it happens, Cardinal Duncan isn’t the only victim. There have been a string of such deaths and the Church is alarmed enough to send an emissary from Rome to look into matters. And matters are very dark indeed. There is a sinister plot at work here that just gets twistier as the story unfolds.

The cast of characters is varied and diverse and it’s a pleasure to see an adventure like this filled with beautiful, sensual, intelligent women who use all of the weapons at their disposal—including their enormous sex appeal—to get what they want. And Eliza will deal with the devil himself if she has to.

Eliza has what Fr. Michael considers a bad attitude and he’s afraid it’s infectious. (“Being around you feels like one long sin,” he tells her at one point.) But Eliza’s smart-ass attitude is all about the smart, and since her job is dealing with demonic uprisings, evil paranormal creatures and rogue Elder Gods, her sense of humor is not just protective—it keeps her sane. The dynamic between her and Fr. Michael is very interesting indeed, and as the story unfolds, we’re caught up in the intricacies of their personal and private partnership.

There’s a lot more to Michael than at first meets the eye, and Eliza knows his secrets and keeps them. It frustrates the priest that she knows more about him than he does about her and he’d like to redress that balance. (“My secrets are my own,” she tells him, “and I ever lie.”) It takes us a while to warm up to Michael, but when we do, we like him a lot. And who wouldn’t love a character named Tesla Jones? (He’s a self-styled “infomancer” and one of the tale’s most appealing “supporting actors.”)

The story ends with a cliff-hanger that leaves all sorts of loose ends, and we look forward to seeing those tied up as the next chapters of the story are published. (Make it soon Abigail!)