The Unrighteous Son (Circle Seven, Book 2)

Gabrielle
Ash
Genre: 
Paranormal

About a year ago, all hell broke loose in heiress Matilda ‘Tilly’ Ashby’s life when a supernatural assassination contract was put out on her. She only survived because the half-demon assassin, Samson, couldn’t go through with it. Now Samson has disappeared while trying to find a way to kill the incubus who accepted the contract—his father, Frank, for whom he worked. After several months of normalcy, Tilly is plunged back into the hellish supernatural world she doesn’t truly understand, and which seems intent on killing her. She teams up with Vee, Samson’s sister, and a few other unlikely allies to find Samson. But finding Samson is one thing, helping him and Vee kill Frank, so he can be free to pursue the relationship with Tilly she’s hoping for, is another thing entirely. Perhaps things will work out—but only if she can survive.

The action in “The Unrighteous Son” leaps off the page from the first chapter and continues to the very end, as Ms. Ash’s gritty prose transports readers into the weird shadow world of demons, cambions, necromancers, and fae sorcerers. Though this installment of the Circle Seven series can be read alone, it’s not recommended. The emotional connections between the characters (hence readers’ investment in them) have already been established in book 1, so the characters here seem somewhat flat and unchanging. The heat between Tilly and Samson only simmers from past flames rather than burning, and her frequent, self-pitying whining over being a powerless human grates. The riveting plot, however, with its surprising twists and breath-catching action makes up for tepid characters. A good read, likely much better after reading book one.

Marc Joseph