I was supposed to do reviews of The Devil You Know and The Devil Dances for a tour with CBB Book Promotions but I had to bow out due to a family crisis. I’m now back blogging, reading, and reviewing and I missed my addiction!
I’d like to thank Candace of CBB and the author K H Koehler for being understanding and apologize for my delay.
So without further wait, here they are!
The Devil You Know
by K H Koehler
My Review
This was one wild read. The author gave me angels and angel-eaters, demons and daemons. witches and the big guy himself, the Devil.
The star of this story is Nick, son of Satan. He and his partner Morgana own the Curiosities Shop, an occult shop in a small town in Pennsylvania. But he used to be a cop and he still does some psychic detective work. Big daddy Satan isn’t too pleased with that. He wants Nick to quit with the human stuff and ascend to the throne.
So do the angels. They’re not thrilled about an empty throne, even the devils. The author got real creative with that idea.
The story begins when a young woman darts into the shop. Someone is after her. It’s Malach. He’s a Seraph, a type of angel. His primary purpose is to kill demons and Nick tries to stay off his radar and have a sanctified shelter close at all times.
Once he shoos Malach out of the shop he gets to know Vivian and senses she has powers of her own, but she doesn’t know what she is, what she’s capable of, and Nick ain’t telling.
He begins to have feelings for her. Not just the horny devil kind. Can the son of the devil truly love?
I have my doubts. Afterall, Nick is the son of the devil and sin is a recreation, so anything goes in the sex department. Him and his partner have sex now and then. Friends with benefits.
You get to meet his father on occasion. This was such fun. I wish there’d been more scenes with father and son. Satan reminded me of the evil one in Constantine. Nasty and charming at the same time. You can tell the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Nick’s a crafty devil. Look at his dad. He’s been fooling people into believing he doesn’t exist for ages. And there’s an interesting story behind Nick’s mother and father. It would be a great side story.
I had just as much fun with Nick and his dad as I did with the investigation he gets drawn into. Weird things were happening around the disappearance of a local girl. Strange doings and beings in the woods.
Something new to me were the angel-eaters. They actually eat angels to gain power, trying to ascend to the throne. Pretty nasty beings.
There’s raw sex and violence, but this book wouldn’t be as good as it is without it. And the author did a great job of writing this in the first person, with Nick telling the story.
I’d recommend this as a noirish detective mystery with a whole lot of sexy deviltry. You’ll see the dark side in a new light.
5 STARS
Synopsis
Not only does the devil have an only begotten son, but he’s currently residing in the rural town of Blackwater in northeast Pennsylvania.
Semi-retired from law enforcement, the handsome, if cynical, Nick Englebrecht becomes quickly caught up in a local missing child case that seems mundane on the outside, but when the sheriff requests his help as a psychic detective to help find the missing girl, his off-the-books investigation quickly leads him to some terrible truths about life, love and the universe as we know it.
And if that isn’t bad enough, the angels have begun an ethnic cleansing of all beings with demonic blood. Of course, Nick is at the top of their to-do list.
Warning” Explicit sex scenes
Quote
“My name is Nicholas Englebrecht and I’m the heir to Hell. I’m the Angel-breaker. I’m the goddamned son of the devil and you should know that if you piss me off, things are going to go very bad for you.”
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The Devil Dances
My Review
Warning. An adult read. Explicit same sex and multiple partners.
The story of Nick picks up about a year later.
His partner, Morgana, don’t like him training Vivian ( Viv) but if he doesn’t she could do serious damage to herself and others.
And Nick still hasn’t revealed his secret, for his own good.
When a young man dies right in front of him, Nick is drawn into the investigation. Viv won’t let him go without her so the Amish town the victim is from is going to be in for a shock.
Something evil is haunting the outskirts of the their town. affecting the Amish townsfolk. They actually turn to Nick for assistance. Knowing what he is, this shows how bad things are and how desperate they’ve become.
I bet Nick never would have believed it if he’d been told he was going to be asked to help the Amish fight an ancient God.
Nick is deliciously wicked and charming. You get to know more about him in this second book. Since the author already laid out the introductions in the first book, you get more about the characters. Viv, I don’t like so much. She comes across as needy and spoiled, but she does have her moments. And the romance between her and Nick is really heating up. As if it could get much hotter.
Nick is changing, in a big way. He’s still not ready to ascend to the throne yet. And Dad is still tired of waiting. As in the first book, my favorite part is scenes between father and son, and you get a lot more of Satan in this second book. Soon enough, the ascension will be out of Nick’s hands. Thy will be done.
This second book feels less noirish and more like a sexually charged horror story. The sex is harsh and there’s more of it, but that makes sense to me. Nick isn’t a good guy. He has good intentions at times, but he’s soon to be the Devil and his needs and desires run sinfully raunchy. He’s not a one woman or one gender type of guy.
Having the Amish recognize what he is and enlist his aid was genius. I could tell the author did her research and understood the good and bad practices of the Amish people, which was how she wove this together and made it believable and horrific.
I liked this even more than the first book as the world building was already done and the author could focus heavily on the characters and the mystery. I hope there’s more to come.
5 STARS
Synopsis
You want to know something about me? Something important? When I was a kid, I used to read a lot of comics. I watched all the TV shows. Hell, I wanted to be a superhero. Then one day I grew up, and I learned I wasn’t the Lone Ranger. I’m not Spider-Man or Captain-Fucking-Marvel. I’m not a good man, and I never will be. My name is Nicholas Englebrecht and I’m the heir to hell. I’m the Angel-breaker. I’m the goddamn son of the fucking devil and you should know that if you piss me off, things are going to go very bad for you…
Nick Englebrecht is lured to a strange, isolated Amish colony by the mysterious death of a nameless young man. It’s supposed to be a simple enough investigation. Find the kid’s family. Find out what happened to him. But when you’re the devil’s kid, with angels and demons gunning for you at every turn, things have a habit of turning bad fast. Before Nick knows it, he’s up to his ass in bodies, femme fatales, and ancient, bloodthirsty gods with a taste for human flesh.
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About the author
K. H. Koehler is the author of various novels and novellas in the genres of horror, SF, dark fantasy, steampunk and young adult. She is the owner of K.H. Koehler Books, and her books are widely available at all major online distributors. Her covers have appeared on numerous books in many different genres, and her short work has been featured on Horror World, Literary Mayhem, and in the Bram Stoker Award-winning anthology Demons, edited by John Skipp. She lives in the beautiful wilds of Northeast Pennsylvania with two very large and opinionated Rottweilers. Visit her site at KH Koehler Books
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Eliza Gordon is a husband-and-wife team of controlled chaos who writes stories to help you believe in the Happily Ever After.