Silas Smith has been a soldier of the Holy Order a bit too long, battered and exhausted, he resents being pulled in for yet another mission, one that has him in too close contact with sexy Jessie. Even so, he knows his duty and the dangers involved in bucking the system. He is willing to do whatever it takes to stop the serial killer wreaking havoc and raising black power with the bloody ritual murders occurring in the dark seams of New Seattle. Romancing her brother's location out of Jessie Leigh won't be a hardship but convincing her he means the murderous little shit no harm is going to be a tall order with those whiskey-toned eyes seeing more than he wants of his soul.

Brought to bay by a soldier of the Holy order who thinks her brother has been involved with serial ritual slayings, Jessie knows Silas needs her insight to bring Caleb in. She knows better than to trust that her brother will remain unharmed by the forces of order but if he has gotten himself mixed up in the ugliness of blood magic she needs to find him in order to get him free from the murderous coven. She is wily enough to use Silas even as he is using her, provided she can keep her own magic a secret.

Karina Cooper has written an intense, complex and highly readable first novel. Based in a post-apocalyptic world after Seattle and other western cities have been destroyed by earthquakes and swallowed by the sea, the Dark Mission series is shaping up to be a winner. The murky backdrop of a new world order where witches are blamed for the natural disaster of fifty years past and only the wealthy can afford to live in the sun is a fascinating setting for this urban fantasy/paranormal romance. BLOOD OF THE WICKED caught me from page one and even now haunts me a bit. Cooper has set up a terrific series of deeper questions to be answered in Book 2, Lure of the Wicked, coming in July 2011.

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