Andrew Mayne

West Virginia: A church congregation vanishes in mysterious circumstances, only to be found dead some miles away. The evidence on the ground appears to indicate a ritual killing and the work of demonic forces. Enter Jessica Blackwood, the FBI's specialist in all things unusual. A former illusionist, Jessica's talent and experience enable her to see what others cannot, as she proved in the infamous 'Warlock' case. Maybe now, once again, the devil will be in the details. Following the trail from West Virginia to Mexico and Miami, Jessica uncovers a deadly conspiracy that might lead all the way to the Vatican itself. Only with her unique understanding of the powers of deception can they hope to stop a ruthless killer from exacting a revenge that's been thirty years in the planning . . .

(Jessica Blackwood 2)

Name of the Devil

Ed Kay

** spoiler alert **
           The major problem with this disappointing follow up is that it bulges with MacGuffins. Problems arise and are just resolved arbitrarily and with little sensible explanation.

Jessica's holed up in an impossible position, surrounded by an army trying to kill her. How will she get out of it? Ah yes, the mysterious, all powerful boyfriend will just show up and chop off their heads.

A reverend blows his brains out on live TV, and leaves behind a tape that suggests something awful happened in his past. What awful thing? How can we recreate an entire scene from audio? Oh, it's cool, the FBI have a clever machine that can detect the tiny sound of a child's ribcage being crushed, and where the people in the room are standing whilst watching it.

But who is the boy? There is no information. Oh, yes there is, here comes the mystical boyfriend again with some cryptic numbers on a mirror, leading to a library and a name. That is then cross referenced against a special secret super database curated by a rich tech geek - friend of the mysterious ex boyfriend! - who runs some algorithm to get the answer...

And on and on. How does clever Jessica solve it? Well, she doesn't. The boyfriend does. Seems he knew what was going on all along. Which kinda makes me wish I could read his story, since he's got all the answers.

Maybe he could tell me how the first crime was committed, what happened to the murderous cop, how was he controlled? How did Grandfather do his bullet trick, and how did it help them prepare to save the pope? How did it save the pope? Did it even save the pope?! (Clearly the pope is saved but no one seemed to actually care about it at the time.)

Reading thrillers and crime writing is a little like experiencing a magic trick and then having the secret revealed. There's a puzzle, and you enjoy watching the detective work backwards to piece it all together. The lure of this series is to see even more magical and impossible murders solved by a magic expert and thereby get some insight into the mind of a magician.

However, there was nothing to learn here and no clever twists to marvel at. Shame.

Name of the Devil (Jessica Blackwood 2)

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