Hell Of A Bite by Mark Huntley-JamesMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Hell of a Bite is the third in the ever growing Demon Trader series. Following Hell of a Deal and The Road to Hell, Mark Huntley-James is not loosing any steam; in fact, he seems to be gaining some. Once more this is well written with a prose style that is so easy to read you will find yourself looking out the window at the encroaching darkness wondering where the day went. Suffice it to say the work of Mark Huntley-James is becoming one of my guilty pleasures and I can’t seem to get enough.
Once more there is a caution that this is mature writing with mature themes for mature readers and not everyone should read it; no matter how much they might enjoy it. As always, there is a broad necessity to suspend your disbelief for—well the whole dang thing. All the player from the first two books, the ones that have survived and a few who have died make it back for another rip roaring time trying to save the world—from themselves.
This time Paul Moore and his better half Simone are settling into their life together with their dragons and dimensionally sprawling estate. Simone still the master witch at night mortal by day and Paul still being sucked into playing his part reluctantly keeping the city safe from all the hazards that come with a city that is teetering between the real world and the Hellfire dimension. When things go sideways, as they always do, Mickey Twitch is there right in the middle of it all and if Simone has her way the first thing she will do to improve the city is to rid it of the Twitch.
This time the previous book’s outcome of culling the greater demons has left room for lesser demons (Banes) to take root and form collectives that prove to be as dangerous as any of the greater demons. Paul is beginning to find out that as a demon broker he is consistently hampering himself with each deal he makes; making it more difficult to deal with the latest crisis. As usual he has to get creative with his demon dealing to work about a solution. And then things become more complicated when he discovers that Mickey Twitch, though in the center of everything, might not be the worst evil around and he is scrambling to find out who the major players are.
Each wrinkle serves up its own level of absurdity that continues to drive this series through some rather hilarious outcomes. There are even some points in the story where I can almost empathize with Paul—almost feel sorry for him; however I can’t help but think he often gets what he deserves.
If you’ve not read these books and you are of a mind to endure the mature side of things then I know you’ll enjoy them. If you have read the other two, then what are you waiting for?
I received an ARC for this book and as usual with any that I thoroughly enjoy I also purchased a copy; because an author has to eat.
And you say there’s another book coming out soon…
JLD
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