Review: Deadtown

Title - Deadtown

Author - Nancy Holzer

Series - Deadtown #1

Genre - Urban Fantasy

Publication - December 29th 2009

Format - Paperback

(Goodreads)(Amazon)

Synopsis 

They call it Deadtown: the city's quarantined section for its inhuman and undead residents. Most humans stay far from its borders-but Victory Vaughn, Boston's only professional demon slayer, isn't exactly human.

Teaser Opening Scene

TWO RULES I LIVE BY: NEVER ADMIT TO BEING A SHAPESHIFTER on a first, second, or third date with a human. And never, ever bring along a zombie apprentice wannabe on a demon kill.

Lately, given my lack of a social life and my kinda-sorta relationship with a workaholic werewolf lawyer, Rule Number One hadn’t presented much of a problem. At the moment, it was Rule Number Two that was giving me trouble. Of course, I’d only formulated Rule Number Two about thirty seconds ago, but I intended to uphold it for the rest of my life—assuming that I’d make it out of here and have a rest of my life to live.

Rule Number Two was thanks to Tina, who—against my orders—had followed me into my client’s dream. I was here to exterminate a pod of dream-demons, and the last thing I needed was a teenage zombie in a pink miniskirt.

“Hi, Vicky. I thought you might need this.” Tina waved my flamethrower, then looked around. “Whoa. It’s weird in here.”

Weird didn't half describe it. We stood in the middle of a huge circus tent, the top stretching up and up until it disappeared somewhere in the stratosphere. Eerie music from an out-of-tune calliope swirled through the air. All around us loomed dozens of crate-sized boxes painted crayon-bright red, blue, and yellow. Suddenly, a box to my right flipped open. With an earsplitting screech, an evil-faced clown sprang out, jack-in-the-box-style. I raised my pistol, aimed, and squeezed the trigger. The bronze bullet nailed the demon-clown right between its eyes. It shrieked, bobbing around on its spring, then dissolved into a puff of sulfurous mist.

“Cool!” Tina brandished the flamethrower. “Let me do the next one.”

“Uh-uh. You’re getting out of here. Now. Before the client wakes up.” I went over and nudged her toward the dream portal, but she shook me off and walked away.

Review

Vicky Vaughn isn't human which maker her perfect for hunting demons. She’s a Cerddorion which is a shapeshifter that can only shift three times during the lunar cycle and into any animal. Her roommate is a vampire who claims to be the real Juliet from Romeo and Juliet who has a weakness for college guys. Vicky is dating Kane a long werewolf who happens to be a lawyer fighting for paranormal equal rights. They live in Deadtown which was created when the plague happened killing many and creating the zombies but they aren't your shambling hordes like other books.  She’s dating Kane a lawyer werewolf who wants to change the way PA’s are treated wanting equal right for all non- humans.

 On what is supposed to be routine job of clearing out a pod of Dream demons things go wrong from the start when Tina joins her using a flamethrower to accidentally torch the dream world. After fixing and destroying all the demons Vicky notices an overwhelm feeling of evil. Only after does she learn that her client died when the goon squad hauls her in. Having been marked by the hellion that killed her father Vicky is sure it’s the same one, only being confirmed on her next job of clearing out harpies. As if she doesn’t have enough to do with the hellion running around she also has to deal with a crazy scientist trying to get her hands on Vicky or her sisters kids. She’s being hunted by men in black who attempted to grab her and Kane is upset she won’t make an effort to help out the PA politically. Will she be able to save the city before the hellion destroys it all?

I was instantly drawn to Deadtown the cover is awesome it just screams read me. The story instantly grabbed me right from the start keeping my attention right till the end. Deadtown is filled with action, suspense, demon, a little comedy and touch of romance a perfect mix. Vicky’s exactly what I expect out of a kick-ass- heroine, and I loved reading her story. Vicky is a fantastic character she who I would want to be if I was a character in a book. Deadtown is brilliantly written taking the shapeshifter concept and putting a refreshing new spin on it. I love the whole idea of the Cerddorion and I like that the Zombies are more than just shambling mobs. The supporting characters just enhance the story; I think Tina and Juliet are equally entertaining.  The concept is captivating I was so engrossed in the story I lost all track of time staying up super late to finish. I look forward to reading the rest in the series, because Vicky has quickly jumped to my top favorite female characters. 

5 out of 5 Stars