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Blutige Vergeltung (2000)

by Lilith Saintcrow(Favorite Author)
4.01 of 5 Votes: 4
ISBN
3802583086 (ISBN13: 9783802583087)
languge
English
genre
publisher
LYX
series
Jill Kismet
review 1: Jill Kismet has been pulled in to an interesting case, one that doesn't seem to have any ties to her speciality of hellbreeds and Traders. Monty asks her to quietly sniff around an apparent suicide of a cop, one that was his former partner. After discovering his widow also appears to have committed suicide, she knows it's something bigger. Add to that an outbreak of a hellbreed called scurf, and Jill has her hands full. This particular installment of the series was not my favorite. I contemplated skipping right to number 4 after starting and stopping this numerous times. I think what was missing was both Saul and Perry weren't in this book nearly enough; there were quite a few token mentions of each and several exchanged phone calls and those took up the bulk of their "app... moreearances". Perry, the hellbreed I love and loathe, is one of the characters that really make this series for me, so of course I missed him dearly :)Another aspect I found tedious was the amount of lamenting from Jill this time around. Not only was she missing Saul like mad, but the amount of reflection on her bargain with Perry started to irk me. She knew from the jump what he is and what having this particular relationship would entail and after 3 books in, you would think her grumbling would slow a bit. Not so, my friends. It seems to just get worse. Hopefully book 4 has more of both Saul and Perry (mainly Perry), as I do so look forward to them. Despite this being my least favorite in the series, I still look forward to the remaining books which will hopefully answer some questions I have from previous installments.
review 2: Well, what can I say here that hasn't been said before? Maybe... combine Lilith Saintcrow's brain, some ink and paper, a kick-ass character, and some crazed hellish villains and you have a book that's an intense reading ride. All of the books that I've so far read by her have been enjoyable reads, and she does not shy away from doing horrible things to her characters. But with each book, I've found a strange combination of almost poetical writing and horror story aspects - it's like your nightmare by a lyricist. Like your worst nightmare written to a beautiful melody. (haha - that's as poetic or lyrical as I'll ever get. just pops out once in a blue moon) In other words, it's hell-a-fun in a kind of heart pounding way. Redemption Alley is right up there - even surpasses some of her other works for sheer action. Jill Kismet starts out the book in a fight and rescue and doesn't get one break until the the book has ended. I might have rolled my eyes at the sheer non-stop action with other writers or characters - really, how much can one person take? But somehow, it's just fun for me to read the complete mayhem that's Jill Kismet's life, trying incessantly to fight off the hellspawn and evil doings in her city while trying not to go over the edge herself. Saintcrow can take a plot and make you feel like you're right in the middle of everything, seeing, hearing and smelling what's going on. She's able to write a story that in other hands would be melodramatic, but in her words and style I enjoyed every minute of the chaos that Jill Kismet is fighting.**If you haven't read any of the novels, there might be a couple of minor spoilers for the previous two books**For this chapter in Kismet's life, Saul (her were-kitty, or cougar) is out of town, so even though she's just gotten used to having Saul as backup (and tried to fight the attraction in the previous story) she's feeling the lack of her man. And her hell-strength donor, Perry is being strangely quiet and cooperative, or cooperative quiet, so she's a little creeped out and suspicious of him. **end of possible minor spoilers**As the blurb says, there are police officers and others dropping like flies. Sudden deaths and suicides. Monty, her main police contact asks her to check out a former partner's death,an apparent suicide, on the down low. Something doesn't feel right to him. So against her better judgement she agrees, even though it's not a paranormal event - it's a mundane thing. Seems like the moment she agrees to this, things go from bad to worse. Suddenly more people are dying and someone is trying to murder her. Everywhere she goes, it seems she has to deal with an attack that's more than the usual - these are serious attempts on her life, and if it weren't for her extra hell-strength (via Perry) she would have died a few times. As it is, it slows her down a bit, and seriously pisses her off. Might piss me off too, I guess - must suck when people try to kill you over and over. (Glad we don't have to go through that, right?) Since someone seems to know where she's going, she suddenly can't even trust the police, the people who are usually there when she needs them.An interesting new character is introduced when Jill makes a visit to the barrio, to try to question one of the local gangs. Not a very likeable guy, but someone who just might continue to make an appearance in the series? maybe. There are also some repeat appearances by the weres of the city - I like the way Saintcrow describes them - the way they act when Jill is hurt, and homey they are in general.Reading a Lilith Saintcrow book is never a happy ever after experience - but even so, there's enough good things that happen (even if it's not obviously, ecstatically good at first) that I'm not depressed after reading a book by her. There've been books that seem to be such downers, that I can feel myself sinking into the depths of despair while reading. (tried to read some Ann Rice books and they were sooo damned bleak...) I think that the combination of the characters' fighting spirits and the overall attitude of people in her books make you feel that even though you know things can explode in a hot minute, there's also people fighting for the greater good - so overall, you feel like there's a thin thread of hope buried in all the chaos that's going on in the Kismet books. (that was a very long sentence - thank goodness this isn't for a grade, lol) So while Saintcrow doesn't necessarily give out HEA endings, she does write satisfying endings to her books. They work. less
Reviews (see all)
Pianoheart
Not quite as good as the rest of the series but good none the less. Would read the next one.
Tmoney
I love the Jill character. she doesn't take anyone's crap.
nappy
This series just keeps getting better & better!
gavin
Jill is bad ass!!!
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