Book Review: Redemption Alley by Lilith Saintcrow

Redemption Alley by Lilith Saintcrow
Orbit Books
314 Pages
Copyright 2009

Jill Kismet is a hunter, tasked to protect the city of Santa Luz from the nightside, those creatures connected to the dark and even hell itself. On the advice of her mentor, she made a bargain with Pericles, a powerful demon from hell that has given her extraordinary abilities.

When Lieutenant ‘Monty’ Montaigne asks Jill to look into the reported suicide death of his former partner, she is reluctant to take it on. Suicide isn’t her problem; not with hellspawn, traders, and people disappearing all clamoring for her attention. When she finds herself the target of multiple assassination attempts by cops with dark secrets to protect, she begins to change her mind. The sudden appearance of Scurf, slimy vampire-like creatures that infect their victims with their disease, in her city, leads her further along a trail that will continue to pit her against those she thought of as friends and force her to rely on those she once thought were enemies. Added into the mess is the fact that Saul, her husband, is away caring for his dying mother, and Jill is in for a very bad time... but not as bad as the one she’s ready to give the nightside.

Saintcrow is a genius when it comes to fast-paced urban fantasy. Her worlds are gritty, violent, and compelling. So are her characters. Jill is the kick-ass, take no prisoners type, yet she suffers from doubts and insecurities like everyone else. She isn’t superhuman but everyone expects her to be. Pericles is one of those bad guys you love to hate – charming on the outside but completely evil on the inside.

Here’s the opening few paragraphs:

Right before dawn a hush falls over Santa Luz. The things that live and prey in the night are either searching for a burrow to spend the day in, or looking for one last little snack. The closer to dawn, the harder the fight, hunters say. Predators get desperate as the sun, the great enemy of all darkness, walks closer to the rim of dawn.

Which explains why I was flat on my back, again, with hellbreed-strong fingers cutting off my air and my head ringing like someone had set off dynamite inside it. Sparks spat from silver charms tied in my hair, blessed moon-metal reacting to something inimical. The Trader hissed as he squeezed, fingers sinking into my throat and the flat shine of the dusted lying over his eyes as they narrowed, a forked tongue flickering past the broken yellow stubs of his teeth.

Apparently dental work wasn’t part of the contract he’d made with whatever hellbreed had given him supernatural strength and the ability to set shit on fire at a thousand paces.

I brought my knee up, hard.

The hellbreed this particular Trader had bargained with hadn’t given him an athletic cup, either. The bony part of my knee sank into his crotch, meeting precious little resistance, so hard something popped.

It didn’t sound like much fun.

Things start off with a bang and don’t slow down until the last pages of the book. Saintcrow keeps the pace just this side of frenetic and does it very well.

Recommendation: This is the third book in the series and there hasn’t been any sign of a let-down or misstep yet. If you like gritty urban fantasy, you won’t do a lot better.