Gwen’s review of Demons Not Included (Night Trackers, Book 1) by Cheyenne McCray
Urban fantasy released by St. Martin’s 2 Jun 09

This is the first of a new series for McCray.  It’s an urban fantasy using a lot of familiar paranormal elements overlayed on a modern day New York City.  But what’s nice is the characterizations are unique and interesting, even if we’ve been down this particular paranormal road before. 

The heroine, Nyx, is half human, half dark elf or Drow.  This gives her unique powers when in her elf form, which she uses to kick bad guy butt. There are two heroes – one is a light elf and the other a human.  I like love triangles, so this was fun for me.  The complications were juicy and sad, at the same time.

There are a lot of similarities between this book and many other paranormals.  The comparisons will be unavoidable if you’ve read any Hamilton, Kenyon, or Saintcrow.  McCray saves the inevitable correlations by giving us interesting characters and a fun storyline that has lots of action.

While there is certainly romance and sensuality in the book, at the end we’re left wondering what’s going to happen there.  As with many urban fantasies, the romance isn’t the reason we’re here – it’s all about the characters and the action.  The story and plot is interesting and different enough that I didn’t feel like I was reading yet another of the same.

I recommend this book to fans of UF and of the author.  If you’ve had your fill of first person POV (done well in this book) and similar paranormals, you may want to avoid it.  I enjoyed it, so I must not be wholly done with the genre.

Grade: B-

Summary:

Meet Nyx. This half-human, half-Drow private eye investigates paranormal crimes by day and is an elite Tracker of demons by night. She prefers working solo—and playing rough. So when a terrifying force starts murdering innocent humans and paranorms, and leaving strange demonic symbols burned into their buildings, it’s a case Nyx takes very personally…

Meanwhile, Nyx’s fellow Trackers are being killed one by one—and a sexy new Tracker named Torin is shadowing her every move. Torin has powers Nyx can’t read, and sometimes she wonders whose side he’s on. Nyx’s instincts tell her something’s brewing in the city’s meanest supernatural streets, and that it’s ready to unleash hell on Earth. Who can she trust? Now it’s five minutes to permanent midnight…and Nyx’s last chance means risking everything—even her own life.

Read an excerpt here (nice long excerpt).

Other books in the series:

No Werewolves Allowed, Book 2 – coming early 2010