Diana Rowland - Secrets of the Demon

Beaulac, Louisiana homicide detective Kara Gillian is in New Orleans, working a case with the multi-jurisdictional task force she's recently joined with FBI Special Agents Ryan Kristoff and Zachary Garner. The task force deals with white collar and "financial crimes"...also known as crimes having a supernatural or paranormal element. The lead singer of the Goth rock band Ether Madhouse has been receiving threats that a demon is intent on eating her soul during her last concert on the tour, so Kara, Ryan, and Zach have joined forces with NOPD detective Marco Knight to stake out the concert, Kara on high alert for any trickles of arcane power. When the singer is snatched suddenly by something that is definitely not a demon...nor anything else Kara had ever experienced before...the potential publicity stunt takes a dark turn, and any pleasure at rescuing the lead singer is quickly squashed when bodies start turning up surrounded by fields of arcane dissonance that match the one she felt during the singer's abduction, but doesn't match any sort of power with which Kara is familiar. And she can't stop what she doesn't understand. As the body count rises and the search for answers gets overshadowed by a growing number of tough questions, Kara's job gets infinitely more dangerous. A new wave of power is rising and this time, the thick, oily sense of evil intent is directed at her, and it's the sort of power she's not strong enough to withstand. I love this series! Kara Gillian is one of my favorite ongoing-series heroines in the genre right now for the very fact that she's so wonderfully normal in all aspects but one: she can summon demons from the demon realm, an alternate universe that brushes against ours. These are not hell and brimstone monsters, either, but different species with various levels of intellect and power that are bound by a strong code of honor. I love the mythos and world building Rowland has created for this series, and I adore the mix of solid police procedural and urban fantasy roller coaster. But Kara is definitely the driving force of the woman-love I feel for this series. I love that she's got body image issues, isn't a fan of working out (her approaching PT test is enough to give her hives when she thinks about it), and thinks a healthy breakfast is a couple of chocolate donuts and a mug of brew. I think it's fantastic that she's nearly friendless (though that's improving as the series goes along) and hasn't had a relationship with a man last for more than a handful of months...either of the two times she's had a relationship at all. Okay, true, maybe that's not fantastic for her, but for me as a reader, I find her ultimately sympathetic and ever so easy to relate to. She's a little neurotic, a bit insecure - and acknowledges it, and though she's a tenacious bloodhound and a hell of a detective when it comes to solving a case, and would give up her life protecting people she cares about, she's far from a know-it-all and has huge gaps in her understanding of even the forces she is able to manipulate and the magic she can wield. She's an Everywoman of the highest and most well-defined order and I love reading about her.