Demon Angel by Meljean Brook

Demon Angel by Meljean Brook
Mass Market Paperback, 432 pages
ISBN: 0425213471
Available Now
Retail Price $7.99

I was so engrossed in this book, when blurry vision forced me to take a break (rapt, unblinking reading + contact lenses = blindness), I discovered that demon dog had ripped the hell out of the sofa cushion three inches away from my ass in an attempt to dig a bone out of the crack (I’m not going to go there—I’m just not), and I’d been blissfully unaware of the rending cloth and flying clumps of foam.

Sir Pup? Pfft. Not half the hellhound my cocker spaniel is.

Ms. Brook, for rendering me oblivious, you will be receiving the bill for my slipcovers. (Yes, plural. The loveseat has to match. We may be white trash, but we are not barbarians.)

The guts of it: There are two parts to this story, before and after The Fall.

Before, Lilith (a demon) amuses herself by toying with boy hero Hugh, who is all the more amusing because he plays along, knowing he’s being played. She’s not in an attractive guise (Hugh likens her face to that of a cow), and she is clearly a woman of low virtue (shamelessly admitting to dallying with a tied up, naked man and attempting to seduce poor, innocent Hugh) and a troublemaker (her lies, ostensibly to keep him out of trouble, create worse problems for him than the truth would have), but Hugh enjoys her company. Even after he learns Lilith is a demon, he seeks her out because she’s such a sparkling conversationalist.

Her lies bite Hugh in the ass in a big way, and he’s saved from death by being made a Guardian (angel-like being). For the next 800 years, Hugh and Lilith continue their verbal sparring, working together and against each other as the situation dictates, enemies by nature who happen to like one another.

Then Hugh does a thing or two to so badly damage his sense of honor, he chooses to Fall—giving up his Guardian role to become human again.

After, Lilith has become, of all things, an FBI agent—only natural, considering the number of demons in law enforcement and politics (which explains a lot, really). The city is overrun by nosferatu (ugly, uncivilized bloodsuckers) who have entered a union with Lucifer that involves destroying Hugh, for reasons that are not readily apparent. He’s human, just one of 5 billion, and it takes some time to figure out why he’s so damn important in Lucifer’s scheme.

That time is filled with lots of violence, demon sex, family dysfunction, declarations of love that always was, Cerberus’s balls, and a vampire whose vanity exceeds even Lestat’s, not necessarily in that order.

The pacing is brilliant, slowly tightening up until the climax, when you feel events spinning out of control right along with the characters.

Why I like Hugh: He is so bloody good natured. How many men do you know who would cooperate while their girlfriend threatened another guy with blackmail by buttsecks, and later joke about her interest in watching him engage in some manlovin’ when she’s not even around? They got along so smashingly for so many years despite what would otherwise have been construed as serious verbal abuse on Lilith’s part because he understood her from the beginning and happily played along.

Understanding is a very attractive thing in a man.

Why I like Lilith: Armored bitch exterior, gooey cream filling (reminds me of someone…).

With an 800-year friendship that’s endured despite lies and bloodshed and mutual murder attempts, you get the feeling this couple can make the relationship last for the rest of their lives.

Demon Moon, Ms. Brook’s next, is being rushed to me as we speak. I do love finding a new autobuy…