"The tortured Immortal Tain's much awaited tale"
Fifteen months prior Samantha Taylor, a half human - half
demon witch and detective for the Paranormal division of the
Los Angeles police force had helped to save the Immortal
Tain from the sadistic clutches of one of her own kind, an
Old One know as Kekhsut (THE GATHERING). In doing so she had
helped to restore the balance between life and death magic
in the world and fallen hopelessly in love with the half
crazed Immortal. Unfortunately Tain had needed to restore
his own balance and she had not seen him since that fateful
day. In her heart she'd known that after what he'd suffered
at the hand of the ancient demon that he'd never be able to
tolerate the death magic that was a part of her. She'd left
Seattle and had gone home to do what she did best,
investigate crimes involving Paranormals. Samantha's current assignment is as a decoy in a demon bar
owned by Merrick a member of her father's demon clan. She
hopes to charm the owner into revealing the club's use of
Mindglow, an illegal demon date rape drug which left the
demon's victims pliable and unable to resist the stealing of
their life essence. Unfortunately just when she is certain
that success is imminent, the club is stormed by demons of a
warring clan and a seemly harmless derelict rises to the
challenge -- Tain! It's no secret that Tain hates demons and
not certain if he would
bother to make a distinction between the good guys and the
bad, she jumps into the fray. Something deeper than date crime is going on in the demon
world and there are those among the human kind who want
revenge for the events of the previous year. Samantha and
Tain both know that balance needs to be maintained or the
world would be unmade. Young demon prostitutes are being
brutally murdered, their hearts ripped out and sent back to
their clans. The victims' clans are blaming each other. If
the crimes cannot be solved a demon war is imminent. This
new investigation exposes Samantha to both life and death
magic extremists, the head of the Lamiah demon clan (her
paternal great-grandmother) and Mrs. Townsend leader of the
No More Nightmares group who endorses death to all death
magic creatures. Tain discovers portals to a demon realm in both the Lamiah
Matriarch's home and a location used by the No More
Nightmare's group and believes the demon hearts are being
used as a sacrifice to attract another Old One, Bahkat.
The deaths haven't stopped with the prostitutes and when the
highest
ranking Lamiah demon is found murdered as well as Mrs.
Townsend's assistant, damning
evidence surfaces that points to Tain as the culprit.
There's no question that Samantha loves Tain with all her
heart but can she trust him or has his mind been so twisted
that his view of demons will always be warped? But if he's
been set up, then she has bigger problems -- because then
Tain was in big trouble and she was the bait! The whole
thing is further complicated when Samantha is put up for the
new leader of her father's clan and she must decide whether
to right their world and lose the man she loves, or walk
away leaving them in chaos to have him. Will Tain at long
last find his redemption? Poor Tain, it was too much to hope that his trials had ended
with Kehksut's death. But have no fear, as always love will
win the day. The young half Sidhe Immortal Mac, who we first
met in THE AWAKENING, is the next to find love in THE
CROSSING. Wondering about Samantha's mysterious werewolf
partner Logan? It looks like we'll finally have his story,
Jennifer Ashley's "Wolf Hunt" novella. in THE RECKONING
anthology. Tain's story was well worth the wait, and I
recommend strongly that you read the first four novels that
lead up to THE REDEEMING first. Only by knowing what Tain
has suffered will this story have a full impact.
Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch
Posted September 15, 2008
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