Emerald Fire

Suzanne M.
Sabol
Genre: 
Paranormal

The streets of Columbus are dangerous. Vampires, werewolves and a cop consultant with magical powers known as the Blushing Death, aka Dahlia Sabin, is one lucky lady! Two alpha male suitors, Patrick and Dean both have her heart, and they co-exist in a tense I’d-like-to-kick-you-off-a-bridge-if-I-had-a-chance sort of way. Someone is ripping up bodies for a graveyard smorgasbord. With every death, zombies pop up like daisies. Dahlia follows the leads, hoping to find the powerful magic causing trouble in her city, but it’s starting to smell like a trap. 

“Emerald Fire” is written in a “gumshoe” whodunit style. Zombie and magical creature lovers please step forward! Dahlia is a gritty gal, but retains her soft edges when it comes to her men Patrick and Dean. For readers to enjoy this story they’ll have to start at the beginning of the series or be lost throughout this novel. Antagonists such as Baba Yaga have a strong hold on the plot from prior books. Character connections are solid but created from previous stories and Ms. Sabol doesn’t inject enough hints to bring a new reader up to speed. The mystery is the focus of this book. The sex scenes are to the point but not especially stirring. Dahlia’s affair with her men doesn’t really settle as true love, but more out of necessity to increase their powers. Action and sleuthing have an amiable balance, but nothing new on the creative front. 

Ms. Sabol writes with an urban edgy pen, and the reader won’t know what’s around the next corner until they run into the nightmare they don’t want to meet in a dark alley.

Sloane Austen