Mark of the Demon (Kara Gillian, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Jan 16, 2012 Samantha wickedshizuku Tolleson rated it really liked it

Shelves: female-lead, reviewed, title-m, paranormal, make-hubby-read, not-manga, 2014, why-do-i-do-this-to-myself, 4-stars

Oh My Gods WTF have I found!?!

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The first scene is quite interesting. I wonder where this is going to go.
I have found perpetual catnip of a series. I randomly stumbled across this book, and shrugged that it was going to be as most books of the genre. Boy was I absolutely wrong! First we have the main character Kara Gillian, whose occupation is of the cop variety. Then we have her friend, a Crime Scene Tech. Also a very funny M.E. inhabits the pages of this one. Whenever I hear the word Squik, ...more

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Sep 15, 2011 Marsha rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites

I may one day decide to change my rating to 4 stars, but, for now, it will remain at 3. Okay, I've switched it to 4 stars. I usually round up since there are no half star ratings.

This is such a hard book for me to review. For a few chapters, I was rolling along quite enjoying the book. Then for several chapters, it fell flat and I had to put it down and move on to something that really captured my attention.

Kara is a loner that works as a detective for a Louisiana Parish police department. She I may one day decide to change my rating to 4 stars, but, for now, it will remain at 3. Okay, I've switched it to 4 stars. I usually round up since there are no half star ratings.

This is such a hard book for me to review. For a few chapters, I was rolling along quite enjoying the book. Then for several chapters, it fell flat and I had to put it down and move on to something that really captured my attention.

Kara is a loner that works as a detective for a Louisiana Parish police department. She has recently been promoted to Detective and even more recently been shifted over to the violent crimes division where she can finally get a handle on the Symbol Man murders (which, of course, have started up again). She's also a summoner. She can summon demons. Though, I have to give this author credit for creating a slightly different world with this regard. Kara has to practice and move up in her rank through hard work and dedication to her craft as a summoner.

The Symbol Man mystery is, of course, linked to her aunt who raised her after her parents died and to her ability to summon demons. I can't say too much more without giving too much away, but the mystery was a nice approach to this UF novel. It seems that so many UF novels have a sort of mystery involved - who's trying to murder me/my friends and why and how can I stop them. But here, there really is a murder investigation in which Kara has to use her detective skills and not only her summoning abilities. There is, of course, some seedy hot and heavy with a demon and an interesting connection with a visiting FBI agent - who may or may not be on the wrong side after all. You'll have to read to find out.

What I didn't like is that reading this book was like moving forward in a very jerky motion with several stops along the way. I enjoyed the characters for the most part, but Kara did seem a little bothersome at times. She had few friends and no current love interest (she's only had 2 - which we were reminded several times. Please, just fill the page with it once and give us something new to read rather than filling the pages with repeat stuff). You would expect her to be a little awkward in her ability to deal with others if she is so backward in her relationships herself. But, she seems to be able to interact quite well with the local coroner and the local crime scene photographer. But, what was with her so easily inviting Ryan into her home? Their relationship (though, I know was supposed to be professional) seemed to proceed to - Yeah, stay in the guest room. And what is wrong with block cheese? Sorry, you have to read it to understand.

Anyway, the ending moved along and FINALLY drew me in. I will be reading the next installment. ...more

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Jun 18, 2011 Jamie ~ Bad Boy Inspector rated it it was amazing

Shelves: genre-urban-fantasy, subject-pn-demons, read-2011

4.5/5.0

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Jul 08, 2014 Katyana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ass-kicking-women, uf, fantasy, demons, thriller-suspense

Wow. I really liked this. It is an interesting world, with good twists and turns.

Yeah, there were a couple times where I thought Kara was a little slow on the uptake - especially for a detective - but all in all, she was really solid.

Lots of setup in this book. I'm interested to see where the characters go from here. ...more

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