INSATIABLE DESIRE

Author: Rita Herron ISBN: 0446199478 9/2008 PARANORMAL Publisher: GRAND CENTRAL

CAN SHE DARE TO TRUST HER HEART... Plagued by graphic visions and the desperate cries of murder victims, psychic Clarissa King will do anything to stop the brutal killer targeting her hometown—even work alongside the dangerously sexy FBI agent who thinks she's a fraud. He's the one man who sparks a hunger she never imagined possible—and the one man she should fear... WHEN HIS SOUL BELONGS TO THE DARK? Vincent Valtrez knows how to get inside a serial killer's mind. But with a dangerous past and a secret to keep, he wants nothing to do with this gorgeous psychic—especially since just the thought of her luscious body ignites a dark, irrepressible desire he's determined to keep at bay. When the killer they seek turns out to be demonic and otherworldly, Vincent learns his connection to the murderer is more than just hunter and prey. Will the darkness inside Vincent claim him...or will he save Clarissa—and himself—from the evil that threatens them both?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Rita Herron sets her paranormal romance, INSATIABLE DESIRE (The Demonborn), in a small Tennessee town in the Smoky Mountains, where there's a bar located next to the cemetery that is named 6 Feet Under, a housing development is in Hell's Hollow, a restaurant is named Hell's Kitchen and evil lurks in the Black Forest just outside of town. It's an eclipse year and a lot of people always die in Erie, Tennessee, in an eclipse year. Clarissa King is the town psychic, helping the dead to cross over, and she calls the sheriff to let him know that even though it doesn't appear so, three girls who died recently were murdered by a clever serial killer. He calls in an FBI agent who grew up in the area, one who's familiar with death and demons, whose mother was literally an angel and his father a demon, making Special Agent Vincent Valtrez a Dark Lord. Can Clarissa help Vincent extinguish the darkness in his soul before the demon lord rises to be crowned?

Herron creates a world where a whole forest is filled with inhuman creatures and the townsfolk just accept that it is their lot in life to suffer. Vincent is a compelling character—afraid that he is pure evil, fighting against his nature every day by getting into the minds of killers and sniffing them out. While growing up in Erie, he only had one friend, and that was because they were both weird. Clarissa had his back and he had hers. But he realized that if he truly was his father's son, he'd end up hurting Clarissa, just as his father hurt his mother. Clarissa is sure that her love can break evil's stranglehold on Vincent and sets out to prove it.

It took me a while to not let the evil of the demons and the violence of the murders seep into my psyche, but once I felt like Vincent and Clarissa would fight on the same side, I was able to fully engage and dismiss the power of the darkness. There are a considerable number of roadblocks for them to overcome and I didn't entirely discover the true bad guy until it became obvious.

INSATIABLE DESIRE (The Demonborn) is a perfect book for the Halloween season! Readers who don't mind a little kinkiness to their sex scenes and can wrangle demons with one arm tied behind their back will not only enjoy this book, but look forward to the inevitable sequels.

Susan Barton