Magic in the Blood Review

Allie Beckstrom has been through a lot in her life because of her job as a Hound, sniffing out illegal spells to identify the castor. When we last left Allie in Magic to the Bone she had fallen in love with a man named Zayvion Jones and was recovering from her last job.

Now with the start of Magic in the Blood, Allie suffers constant migraines, fevers, and memory loss as a result of using magic. Magic doesn’t come free and this is the price she has to pay. But without her memories, she is starting all over from square one with Zayvion and is conflicted on whether he is trust worthy or not. Sometimes she is crazy about him but other times she wonders whose team he is really playing for.

When the police hire Allie for a Hounding job for their magic enforcement division, she jumps at the chance to take her mind off of her problems and get to work. Allie needs to sniff out a spell and tell the police who the illegal castor is so they can find out who has kidnapped a bunch of young girls.

Allie has no idea that this case is her most dangerous one ever and is not as simple as she thought it would be. She comes across a group of ghosts which she calls watercolor people who attack her every time she uses magic. How can Allie work as a Hound and do her job if these watercolor people won’t leave her alone? Everywhere she goes, there are ghosts lately. It doesn’t help that Allie’s father’s ghost is haunting her too! Will Allie be able to find the missing girls and not get hurt in the process?

Magic in the Blood is the second book in a fabulous new urban fantasy series by author Devon Monk. I was blown away by this latest installment that left me breathless and shocked with every new revelation. The world that Devon Monk has created is so believable and realistic with vivid scenes that play out like an action movie. For the first 100 pages Magic in the Blood builds up to everything that is about to happen and once the suspense starts, it never lets up.

The ending to the story is the most exciting cliff hanger I’ve read in a while and I can’t wait to read the next book now! I would strongly recommend reading this series in order, starting with Magic to the Bone or the reader may not fully understand the storyline as well. There is some back-story but I enjoyed the story more having read the previous book and wouldn’t want others to be lost for any details.

The third book Magic in the Shadows is due out November 3, 2009. Overall, Magic in the Blood is a heart stopping, suspenseful, urban fantasy, paranormal mystery that blew me away and exceeded all of my expectations. Devon Monk has created an extremely imaginative world that I want to live in and never leave.