A Trick of the Light
After the death of a beloved sister, Wyatt King’s only plan is to be left alone with his grief and his new ward, his days-old niece, Hannah. But when you’re the last demon hunter descended from a centuries-old line of demon hunters, others might have something else in mind.
When Hannah is kidnapped by Malik, the second in command of Hell, Wyatt is rattled to the point of inaction, until an otherworldly ally guides him to an ancient stone circle: a gate to Hell. Soon Wyatt finds himself protecting – and falling for – the only clue to Hannah’s whereabouts: a succubus-turned-human named Meridiana.
Both Wyatt and Meridiana are stalked by Malik, who wants Lucifer dead and believes the couple has connections to an Archangel, the only creature powerful enough to kill Lucifer. Can Wyatt and Meridiana stop Malik from succeeding in his plan to take over Hell? Can they save the world from certain doom?
PRAISE FOR A TRICK OF THE LIGHT
An entertaining read filled with mystical and concrete stakes for a fun collection of supernatural and magical characters. A rousing start to a delightful new series. —Betsy Dornbusch, Author of Books of the Seven Eyes and The Silver Scar
Salt? Check. Iron knife? Check. Holy water? Check. These tools are enough to send your average demon back to Hell. But demon hunter Wyatt King knows he will require much more than his standard kit if he is going to succeed in rescuing his infant niece from master demon Malik, who is second only to Lucifer. In fact, he will need the unlikely help of a couple of succubi (no, wait, one succubus and one succubus-turned-human), spells from a seemingly immortal alchemist, and hand-forged smiting sword made of meteorite. Sure. No problem.
Trick of the Light is a profound life lesson cleverly disguised as a fun, action-packed fantasy. Susan Brooks’ debut novel involving demon traps, sigils, and a mysterious imp is thrilling and entertaining, complete with demonic shapeshifting and a ferocious, earth-shaking battle of good vs evil. The ominous threat of Malik feels real and is nicely counterbalanced by the divine light of an archangel (exactly who, is an interesting surprise). The demon and archangel have their own relationship dynamic, which leads to quite a fist-shaking-at-the-heavens theory for why things happen the way they do here.
The real strength of Trick of the Light, though, comes from the message that the author has skillfully woven throughout — that your past is only a collection of events; they do not have to define who you are now nor dictate who you can become. Ex-succubus, Meridiana Lilin, or Meri, is the personification of this message, both in her physical transformation and in her quest to understand who she is and her place in the world. In her thousand-plus years as a succubus, she has always yearned to be human, to have free will. Now that she is human, she has come to acutely understand the confusion, heartache, and limitation that also goes along with that free will. Knowing what she knows now, given the option, will she return to life in Hell as a succubus, or will she stay on Earth as a human? By the end of her journey, you will be as curious to find out as the imp is.—Colorado Book Review