Roadkill by Rob Thurman

  What is it we all love so much about road trips? From the drug-addled craziness of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to the inanity of Chevy Chase's Vacation, they seem to strike a chord in all of us. Roadkill is definitely one of those, on steroids.

Cal and Niko are approached by the old Rom witch, Abelia-Roo, with a problem to solve. Long long ago, one of the Rom healers, Suyolak, went over to the dark side, and became a killer, instead. Evidently, he was like Ebola and the Black Plague, all rolled into one horrible package. The Rom at the time were able to subdue him and imprison him within a coffin, sealed for eternity, though they were unable to kill him. Someone has stolen the coffin, unfortunately, and one of the seals on the coffin has been broken, letting him begin to work mischief, and if all the seals are broken and he is released, it could be like the Horsemen of the Apocalypse have been released on the earth, or at least the one called Plague.

Suckers for a sad story, as always, Cal and Niko take on the job, and along with their puck friend, Robin, head across country, chasing the truck containing the coffin, which has been stolen by a man who only knows the legends of Suyolak the healer, and is desperate for the Rom to heal his terminally ill wife.

As the saying goes (sort of) "It takes a healer to kill a healer", so Cal and Niko must first locate their old acquaintance, Rafferty, who once brought Cal back from the brink of death. Rafferty has been on his own quest to find a "cure" for his cousin, Catcher, who is slowly descending into the mindlessness of his Wolf side. Rafferty and Catcher are both werewolves, but when Catcher caught leukemia, Rafferty used his powers to cure the disease, but lost Catcher's human side somewhere in the process. This whole situation makes for a great deal of soul-searching internal conflict for both man and wolf, and produces an interesting side plot for the story.

Also, Cal and his Kin lover, Delilah's relationship has been discovered by Cabal, one of the leaders of the Kin, and she has been told to kill him or give him over to the Kin to kill. Cal's not sure exactly which way Delilah will jump, and she's tagging along on the road trip, riding her motorcycle, providing a slight frisson of fear for Cal every time she gets a little amorous. Cal is also having some trouble fighting off his Auphe half, which grows stronger every time he opens a gate. Since opening a gate gives him a rush like cocaine or opium, the temptation to give in is strong.

With all of these factors in play, the chase across country to destroy Suyolak before he destroys the world gets pretty intense. Lots of great dialog and interaction between the characters, some graphic violence, and a couple of good twists near the end. Dang, is book six out yet?

Deathwish by Rob Thurman

This is book four in the Cal Leandros series by Thurman, and it picks up just hours after the finale of Madhouse. The Auphe are back, and they desire nothing more than to torture and kill all of his friends and family in front of him before taking him back to Tumulus, their hellish parallel realm. There are not as many of them left as before Cal and Nik wiped out hundreds in an exploding warehouse, but the ones that are are vicious, fast, nearly indestructible...and female.

Nik's vampire girlfriend, Promise, finds a couple of odd jobs for the boys, one of which involves killing a sea serpent, way more than they bargained for, but they end up with way more financial rewards than they bargained for, in the end, so that works out well for them. She also asks them to investigate who is stalking an old flame of hers, Seamus, and they discover a secretive organization that tries to prevent ordinary humans from finding out about the supernatural creatures in their midst, called The Vigil.

Promise's daughter - did you know that in Thurman's world vampires reproduce in an ordinary manner, not by "conversion" as in other worlds? - Cherish, shows up with a major bad-ass magical being named Ososshi on her tail, trying to recover stolen property. She's as amoral as her mother is moral, and provides a lot of challenges for Cal and Nik while they're in the middle of trying to outwit the Auphe.

More good action, and some fun new directions for this series here. Gotta grab book five and see what's next!

Madhouse by Rob Thurman

This is the third installment in the Cal Leandros series. Niko and Cal have allied with Promise the vampire in a preternatural detective agency, which manages to pay the bills for them, although Promise would be happy to play sugar momma to Niko. While handling a kidnapping case, they run across a number of bodies strung up in trees, which are not related to the original problem. A day or so later, Promise takes them to meet a Valkerie who works in the Metropolitan Museum, where the remains of a noted serial killer, Sawney Beane, have somehow escaped the exhibit space. It is feared that Beane has been resurrected and that he will begin a new killing spree. As Beane was known for hanging his victims from the ceiling of his cave, Niko and Cal realize that this case may tie into their previous one, as well.

It turns out that Beane is not your average killer, but is actually Red Cap, a supernatural being that draws power from bloodshed. He recruits or mesmerizes a huge number of revenants, and they join with him as he begins to terrorize Chicago. In the middle of all this, someone or some ones are attempting to assassinate their friend, Robin the hob, and they find themselves mired in that mess, too.

Cal is still avoiding the seer, George, as he fears that their love, if consummated, could breed another Auphe bastard. She refuses to look into their future together to see if it's truly a risk or not. So, instead of dealing with his problem, he begins an affair with a werewolf. Makes perfect sense, right? I'm sure George will be back in another adventure.

Dark, but witty and a good twisted tale.

Moonshine by Rob Thurman

Moonshine is the 2nd book in the Cal Leandros series. It continues along darkly, as might be expected. Cal and Nik are recruited by a Kin (werewolf) boss, Cerberus, to infiltrate the hangout of a rival boss, Boaz, allegedly to gather information. It doesn't take long, however, before it becomes obvious that something more devious is in play. Cal and Nik are unable to make a graceful exit from Boaz's headquarters, and mayhem ensues.

Shortly after that, Georgie the psychic from the ice cream parlor, whom Cal is beginning to realize he may have a crush on, is kidnapped. When Cal and Nik begin to poke their noses into that, they find that Cerberus is in possession of an artifact that a nasty character named Caleb wants, and he is holding Georgie hostage until Nik and Cal are able to steal it for him.

When they are finally able to steal the artifact, an Auphe shows up and steals it from our thieves. Cal and Nik thought all the Auphe were gone after their showdown  in the first book, but it turns out that there are still a few hanging around, causing trouble. Through their connections in the supernatural community they discover that there is another identical artifact that may be held by a group of gypsies - the same tribe that their mother once belonged to, and they set off on a road trip from hell to acquire it.

Still dark, action-packed, and creative, this continues to be amusing.

Nightlife by Rob Thurman

I took advantage of the opportunity to grab books one through five of the Cal Leandros series by Thurman at one of my favorite bookstores the other day, so I thought I'd give the first one a try. This is some pretty dark stuff, not my usual light-hearted fare. Cal and his brother Nik have had a very dysfunctional childhood, with an alcoholic narcissistic mother, and left home to live on their own as soon as the older brother, Nik, was eighteen. Cal and Nik have different fathers, and Cal is a half breed between human and Auphe (elf).

The Auphe in this story are not the beautiful, pointy-eared, gauzy creatures of fairy tales, but ugly and evil creatures, who delight in pain, death and destruction. They ruled the Earth long before mankind came on the scene, but were crowded out by rapidly breeding humans, and their numbers have dwindled. One of their members somehow fathering Cal (Caliban) is part of a plan they have to regain control over the world, but it's a long way into the book before we find out the part Cal is supposed to play.

Cal and Nik live in New York City, and most of the action plays out in its mean streets. They have a friend of sorts, a boggle who lives in Central Park, eating muggers, and when they go used car shopping one day, they encounter Robin Goodfellow, or Puck, peddling fast and fashionable vehicles. He somewhat reluctantly becomes an ally in their investigation of the Auphe plot. There's also a nasty troll that lives under the Brooklyn Bridge whom they meet and interrogate.

The action drags for the first half of the book, but then gets wild and wooly after Cal is possessed by an evil spirit, a banshee of sorts, and forced to play his part in the Auphe's scheme. The person who recommended this series says that the first book is the one she rated the worst of all of them, so I'm looking forward to the second one, it should be really interesting.

Trick of the Light by Rob Thurman

Rob Thurman is perhaps better known for her (yes, Rob is short for Robyn) Cal Leandros series, but I haven't been able to locate a cheap copy of the first book in that series, so I had to give her Trickster series a try first. This book brings a little different cast of characters than the bread and butter elf, vampire and werewolf fare, with a little homemade jam of angels and demons instead.

Trixa Ixtomi is a bar owner in Las Vegas, who seems to have a part time hobby of burning down nightclubs near the Strip which belong to demons. Her chief bartender Leo, is a native american of indeterminate tribe - and he can get really rude with the tourist who ask him his Indian name - whose history with Trixa goes back a long time. They have a mascot at the bar, Lenore, a male! raven who quotes Poe and others freely.

Trixa has a tendency to take in strays, it appears, and she has a particular soft spot for a pair of runaways named Griffin and Zeke. Griffin is an empath, and Zeke is a telepath, but also a sociopath, whose notions of right and wrong are so black and white that Griffin has to keep an eye on him at all times, lest he execute all thieves, rapists, and molesters on sight. All of the cast of characters are pretty good with guns and knives, and ready to mix it up with the demons which infest sin city in a heartbeat.

Trixa's brother was murdered by a demon some years ago when they lived in Hawaii, and she has spent the intervening time trying to find out which one is guilty of the crime. She has heard a rumor about an artifact called the Light of Life, which has immense power and which the legions of both Heaven and Hell desire go gain control of. She believes she can find it, and trade it to whichever side hands over her brother's killer.

This one's got some really interesting characters, great plot twists that I never saw coming, and has a great treasure hunt motif. I just have to wonder what Ms. Thurman is going to do in the next book to top this one.