Otherworld 11 - Waking the Witch

Kelley Armstrong

Language: English

Publisher: Plume

Published: Jul 27, 2010

Description:

Columbus is a small town, untouched by the 21st century. But when three young women are found dead – victims of what appear to be ritual murders – things start to get very dark and dangerous… Private investigator Savannah Levine can handle "dark and dangerous". As the daughter of a black witch, she has a lot of power running through her veins. But her arrival in Columbus has not gone unnoticed. Savannah may think she's tracking down a murderer, but could she be the killer's next target? Of course she could always ask her old friend (and half-demon) Adam Vasic for back up. But Savannah has her own reasons for keeping Adam well away from Columbus. And in any case, she can rely on her own powers...

From Publishers Weekly

Armstrong's 11th Otherworld urban fantasy, her first book for Penguin since 2003's Stolen, sends two paranormal investigators to the small town of Columbus, Wash. Savannah Levine, a 21-year-old witch from Portland, Ore., who's itching to pursue her first solo case, teams up with half-demon PI Jesse Aanes to look into three slayings with supernatural overtones. Savannah, who displays an appealing mix of toughness and vulnerability, figures she can blast her way to the truth, but matters get complicated fast when her powers keep deserting her at key moments and more bodies pile up. Armstrong skillfully juggles her twisty plot, weaving in characters from previous novels as she builds to a fast-paced conclusion. This supernatural mystery is unabashedly aimed at fans of Charlaine Harris and Stephenie Meyer, and may well hit the mark.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

For the eleventh volume in her Women of the Otherworld series, Armstrong shifts to a new narrator—the 21-year-old daughter of a sorcerer and a witch, Savannah Levine—and takes the urban fantasy conceit into rural Washington. Eager to prove herself as a sleuth, Savannah takes up a case brought to her firm by a freelance PI, a suave, telekinetic half-demon. Three young women have been murdered in a small town north of Portland, and there are signs that an occult ritual might have been involved. The two prime suspects are the town's resident golden child and the leader of a commune (or cult, depending on whom you ask) for young runaways. Armstrong writes with page-turningly lucid prose and outfits her heroine with plenty of pluck, which she'll need to navigate the handful of handsome fellas who drop in for potential romancing. Despite the occult angle and all manner of witches, demons, and other supernatural types (no vampires, thankfully), this is first and foremost a mystery, and a pretty decent one, with the magic mostly coming in the form of cloaking spells and energy bolts employed to bolster Savannah's snooping skills. While this story is mostly self-contained, any number of allusions to the massive backstory and cast of characters will likely have newcomers tracking back to flesh things out. Established fans, of course, will gobble it all right up. --Ian Chipman