Paperback, 310 pages
Published January 4th 2011 by DAW
ISBN 0756406528 (ISBN13: 9780756406523)
Primary Language: English
Source: Purchased from Borders
The Blurb (www.goodreads.com):
Homicide detective Kara Gillian has a special talent: she can sense the "arcane" in our world, and there's quite a bit of it, even in Beaulac, Louisiana. She's also a summoner of demons, and works on a task force that deals with supernatural crimes. Her partners are attractive and smart FBI agents, but they're not summoners, and they're not telling Kara why they are on this special force with her.
To make things worse, Kara has pledged herself to one of the most powerful of demons-a Demon Lord-who helped save her partner's life, but now expects things in return. Meanwhile, she's trying to solve a string of murders that are somehow tied together by money, sex, rock music and...mud. But how can she concentrate on the case when she's not even sure who-or what-her partners are?
Secrets opens on a goth concert in New Orleans, with all the colorful characters from the previous book on an undercover protection detail. The lead singer of a local band received a death threat, and the FBI special task force was called in on the off chance that the threat of a demon pulling the lead singer into hell on stage wasn't just a threat. We immediately see Kara Gillian using her arcane powers to control a demon and get set on the scent of a creature even she had never heard of.
The mystery of this installment was solid. It seemed like every time Kara turned around, someone died, and she had no idea how to stop any of it from happening. There was quite a bit of suspense building up to the final reveal. And I have to tell you, I did not see it coming. I thought I had the whole thing figured out, and it turns out I was wrong, so kudos to Rowland for that.
We also got to see a lot of character development in this book. Kara did a lot of soul searching regarding her relationship with both the Demon Lord Rhyzkahl and sexy FBI man Ryan. Some of her confusion bordered on whining, but I forgave it based on all the juicy tidbits we managed to learn about the objects of her affection. We learned how her aunt changed from her time floating around in the ether and even got some insight into Carl, the creepy morgue tech Tessa is now dating. And most importantly, at least to me, we got to see Kara building friendships with people outside the arcane circle, leaving her less isolated, and in my opinion, better able to do her job.
One negative side-note: Diana Rowland published Secrets under a different publisher than the previous two installments, and while I know there were probably many reasons that went into the switch, I have to say I'm disappointed. The book was filled with grammatical errors and typos that I found very jarring at times. But aside from that, I highly recommend this book.
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