Title: Infernal Affairs
Author: Jordan L. Hawk
Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 87 Pages
Category: Fantasy
At a Glance: Infernal Affairs offers readers a quick and entertaining read, and a great way to spend a couple of hours on a weekend afternoon. It is delightfully Jordan L. Hawk, which really says it all.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: Ralgath wants nothing more than to work as a crossroads demon. Too bad he botched his first assignment when a very sexy mortal turned the tables on him. Now he has one chance to get his job back: find two demons who vanished in the human realm. Unfortunately, doing so means teaming up with Chess—the mortal who cost Ralgath his job in the first place.
Chess has spent the last three years using their infernally granted powers to do good. But now Ralgath has a new offer for them: help find the missing demons, and he’ll return Chess’s soul.
After their last encounter, Chess is the last person Ralgath should be interested in. But the passion that initially drew them together still burns hotter than the flames of the Underworld. Chess claims they never meant to hurt Ralgath, but can Ralgath afford to trust them? Because while Ralgath may have Chess’s soul, he’s increasingly certain Chess owns his heart.
Note: Infernal Affairs originally appeared in the Devil Take Me anthology. This new edition is the author’s preferred edit.
Review: Chesapeake Richards had no intention whatsoever of seducing the crossroads demon when they summoned him. Ralgath was merely supposed to be a means to Chess’s end. They only meant to bargain a little soul selling in exchange for otherworldly powers—as one does—so they could fight supernatural predators. But…you know what it’s said the road to Hell is paved with. And the unexpected sex was out of this world, so it seemed like a win-win at the time. At least for Chess. They got the contract, signed in blood, sealed and delivered for as long as they live.
For poor Ralgath, though, not so much. It was his first assignment, and he botched it, rather epically, so he lost his shot at becoming a full-fledged crossroads demon. One and done means he also got stuck working in customer service for three years, and that right there is a special kind of Hell all its own, reserved for the demon who allowed himself to get loved up to the point of distraction by a sexy human.
But then comes a new mission: Ralgath is offered a chance to maybe regain some credibility, maybe get the hell out of customer service, but the clock is ticking and the chase is on to find a couple of missing demons in the earthbound plane. Or…is it all just a setup?
Jordan L. Hawk delivers a fun contemporary fantasy in Infernal Affairs, and gives a wink and a nod and a tip of the hat to a familiar fandom too. What is generally a darker theme—selling one’s soul to the devil in exchange for money, power, talent, etc.—is given such a light and witty twist that it’s impossible not to be charmed by Chess, Ralgath, and the sweet little acid slobbering hell-mutt, Fluffpaw. (Who’s a good demon dog? Yes she is.) In the end, however, it’s not all lightness and laughs; this is a redemption story, not in an angel gets his wings sort of way, but in a way that gives Ralgath the opportunity to regain his reputation and allows him and Chess the chance to connect on a mission that repairs some of the damage done in the lost years between them. It’s not an easy task, but something worth fighting for rarely ever is.
Infernal Affairs offers readers a quick and entertaining read, and a great way to spend a couple of hours on a weekend afternoon. It is delightfully Jordan L. Hawk, which really says it all.
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