ARC Review: Through the Evil Days

Through the Evil Days

Julia Spencer-Fleming

Mystery

Reverand Clare Ferguson/Russ Van Alstyne/Book 8

Minotar Books/November 5, 2013

On a frigid January night, Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne and Reverend Clare Fergusson are called to the scene of a raging fire, that quickly becomes a double homicide and kidnapping. Which is the very last thing Russ needs...Currently he's struggling with the prospect of impending fatherhood. And his new wife is not at all happy with his proposal for their long-delayed honeymoon: a week in an unelectrified ice-fishing cabin. The vestry of St. Alban's Church has called for the bishop to investigate Clare's "unpriestly" pregnancy. She has one week to find out if she will be scolded, censured, or suspended from her duties.

Officer Hadley Knox is having a miserable January as well. Her on-again-off-again lover, Kevin Flynn, has seven days to weigh an offer from the Syracuse Police Department that might take him half a state away.

As the days and hours tick by, Russ and Clare fight personal and professional battles they've never encountered. In the course of this one tumultuous week the lives of the Millers-Kill residents have come to love and cherish change forever.

This is a series you need to start at the beginning.  Not only because it is so well written but because the characters grow and change as the course of the series progresses.  You wouldn't be completely lost if you start with Through the Evil Days but you would lose that sense of knowing these characters and understanding of how they think.

While Clare and Russ have not had an easy romance by any stretch of the imagination, they are finally able to settle into married life, right after a delayed honeymoon.  The boundaries they set with their careers and their personal lives are very flexible so a honeymoon in a remote location should provide no interference from the outside world.  As much as Russ and Clare try to enjoy their honeymoon, they are both too committed to helping others.

Russ and Clare are not the only ones whose plans are not turning out the way they hoped.  Hadley Knox, single mom and California transplant, is dealing with temptation at work and her past coming back to haunt her.  Hadley is not a typical cop but more or less stumbled into the job out of necessity.  Kevin Flynn might not seem like a typical cop at first glance but he was meant to be a police officer.  Between them they actually make a good team.  I do like how their relationship is developing in both the professional and personal.

As life intrudes on Russ and Clare's honeymoon, so does mystery and danger.  The pace was fairly fast mixed in with some down time but overall, the main plot and subplots, kept moving towards the culmination of good versus evil.  There were a few instances of conflict between Russ and Clare that surprised me in that they came from a place I thought had already been resolved.  There were certainly some very big loose ends dangling by the end of the book.  I just hope we don't have to wait eighteen months for the next book.

Rating: B+

In the Bleak Midwinter
A Fountain Filled With Blood
Out of the Deep I Cry
To Darkness and to Death
All Mortal Flesh
I Shall Not Want
One Was a Soldier
Through the Evil Days

Future Young Adult Releases...

With a teenager in the house that loves to read, I'm always on the look out for YA books. We usually get most of them from the library, since many are released in hardcover and would break the budget if I bought every book she read. If you have a teen reader or are like me and enjoy reading YA, here's a few upcoming releases to either add to your wishlist or request from the library. :)

Winter Longing by Tricia Mills (Trish Milburn)

Winter Craig finally gets up the nerve and tells her long-time friend Spencer that she likes him as more than a friend. The best part? Spencer likes her as more than a friend too. With the perfect boy to love and be loved by, she begins her senior year at her small Alaska school and indulges in the dream of becoming a costume designer for the movie industry. Life is perfect — until tragedy strikes. Winter’s perfect life turns upside down as she deals with an unbearable loss, doubts about her future, a best friend whose home life is getting worse by the day, and unexpected feelings for an unexpected boy. (Razorbill/August 12, 2010)


Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Magic is dangerous - but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos. Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What’s more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by—and torn between—two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length . . . everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world. . . . and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all. (Margaret K. McElderry/August 31, 2010/Infernal Devices/Book 1)

Empty by Suzanne Weyn

It's the near future - the very near future - and the fossil fuels are running out. No gas. No oil. Which means no driving. No heat. Supermarkets are empty. Malls have shut down. Life has just become more local than we ever knew it could be.

Nobody expected the end to come this fast. And in the small town of Spring Valley, decisions that once seemed easy are quickly becoming matters of life and death. There is hope - there has to be hope - just there are also sacrifices that need to be made, and a whole society that needs to be rethought.

Teens like Nicki, Tom, and Leila may find what they need to survive. But their lives are never going to be the same again. (Scholastic Press/October 1, 2010)

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

The behemoth is the fiercest creature in the British navy. It can swallow enemy battleships with one bite. The Darwinists will need it, now that they are at war with the Clanker powers.

Deryn is a girl posing as a boy in the British Air Service, and Alek is the heir to an empire posing as a commoner. Finally together aboard the airship Leviathan, they hope to bring the war to a halt. But when disaster strikes the Leviathan's peacekeeping mission, they find themselves alone and hunted in enemy territory.

Alek and Deryn will need great skill, new allies, and brave hearts to face what's ahead. (Simon Pulse/October 5, 2010/Leviathan series/Book 2)


They all sound interesting to me. I still need to read Westerfeld's Leviathan before reading Behemoth. I didn't include Suzanne Collins' Mockingjay cause everybody knows about that! And I still need to read Catching Fire!