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A Flash Of Hex (2009)

by Jes Battis(Favorite Author)

3.74 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0441017231 (ISBN13: 9780441017232)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Ace

series

OSI

review 1: A Flash of Hex by Jes BattisBook 2 of Tess Corday, Occult Special Investigator This is not a spoiler free review.I wasn't impressed with the first book in this series but decided to soldier on anyway and read book 2. It was little disconcerting because I felt like I was reading an entirely different series. The characters and universe were all indeed the same as the first book but the tone seemed so much lighter that I kept wondering if I misremembered the first book and went back to refresh my memory. I didn't imagine it.Sure there are still grisly murders and crime scenes but we see more of Tess’ home life with her gay BFF Derrick and their newly adopted teen, Mia from book one. Derrick gets an unbelievably hunky and adorable boyfriend with and equally adorable dog. Te... moress’ reluctant relationship with necromancer Lucian progresses. There is much more light banter and the entire feel of the story is just less foreboding than the first one.With a new boss, the team tackles the case kicked off in the first chapter much more competently than in the first book. It is also much more of a team effort with Tess, Derrick, Mikes (consultant and eventually Derrick’s boyfriend) and even Lucian all contributing to the effort. There is certainly enough procedural plot to fill the book but it is mostly forgettable. Unfortunately, when the most interesting parts of the book are the minor / side characters and the book is essentially about Tess solving crimes, it doesn't give one much reason to continue reading the series. The second installment was in many ways better than the first but not good enough to convince me to invest the time in the third book.
review 2: This book was...well, it was more than a little disturbing. I picked it up as an impulse buy at Borders because it was on sale. I knew nothing about the actual book, and I didn't even realise it was a sequel until I was already in the middle of it. That being said, I did enjoy the book, although I wouldn't recommend it for the faint of heart. The story deals with murder, rape, drugs, child abuse, and quite a few bloody crime scenes. Not to mention, it adds magic into the mix of all of them, finding ways to make it just a little more scary than normal. Suddenly it's not just a bled-dry victim, it's a bled-dry victim floating on the ceiling.Despite this, and despite how squeamish I am, I enjoyed this book. The characters are the driving point. Tess is a spunky bad ass, and fun to read about, but my real favorite part of the book were the moments with Derrick, her partner, and Miles, a consultant hired for the case. They were adorable, and I wish we could have seen more of them together. Lucian, the romantic interest of Tess, was lacking, in my opinion. Throughout the book, people are scared of him, and he's portrayed as an all around bad ass-who's actually just a dorky sweetheart. I would have liked to see more of his supposed 'dark side', personally. Although, he has his hilarious moments. Mia, Patrick, Duessa, Wolfie, and all of the other side characters were lovely too. If there's one thing Battis can do well, it's create characters.Unfortunately, his writing style could be improved upon. The book was a little...chunky, if that makes sense. Battis is prone to infodumps, or overly descriptive sections, that throw a wrench into the book. You'll be going along smoothly, when BAM. Information overload. While this did detract from the book, it was easy to ignore beside the pressing desire to read to the end of the book and solve the mystery of all the heinous murders.Overall, 3.5 stars. I liked it, but I didn't love it. However, I still ordered Night Child, the book that is prior to this one. And, if I enjoy that one too, I'll probably read Inhuman Resources, which is next in the series. less

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