In this fast paced, edgy edition of Women of the Otherworld,
Armstrong writes from the point of view of Hope Adams. Hope was
introduced us in No Humans Involved, as a new type of demon to
Armstrong's Otherworld.
Hope was helped out by Cortez cabal in No Humans Involved, and now
they are calling on her to pay back her debt. She and the werewolf
jewel thief James Marsten, owe the debt but they are estranged and
he out of the country. Hope turns to her mentors Lucas, son of the
cabal head, and Paige his wife, and her fellow council
member.
The Cabal wants her to infiltrate a Miami gang that has been
operating in Miami, and calling attention to the cabal, even though
not affiliated. It all seems quite innocuous, but then the gang
members start getting picked off one by one. Hope thinks she is
being used by the cabal, for her mind reading talents, and mad when
they seem to be jumping the gun in shutting them down. Hope
suspects an all out war between the cabal and the gang, and she
couldn't be more right, and more wrong about the reasons.
Armstrong re-introduces us to a supernatural being she first wrote
about in Stolen. Shapeshifters, nephews of Armen Haig, who stolen
by a cabal (not the Cortez) imprisoned and used for research.
Armen, was killed when the lab was destroyed, while Elena was
escaping, but it appears he has family. Family with a unique set of
abilities that they could use to gain control of not only the most
powerful US cabal, but the council as well, if they are not
stopped.
With more plot twists than a bowl of spaghetti, this is one of the
best of the Women of the Otherworld series. But, there are a couple
of things that I would have changed. I felt the book lost it's
focus towards the end of the book. Armstrong writes by changing the
point of view from chapter to chapter which I am fine with, but I
felt this was Hope's book. So, when Armstrong ends the book with
Lucas' point of view, I felt it lost its strength as Hope's vehicle
to discovering and developing her abilities, and therefore lost
strength to me. Maybe, Armstrong is setting up the next book, to be
from Paige and Lucas' point of view, but I still felt it would have
been stronger finishing with Hope's point of view.