Shadow Flare (Ruby Calloway #2) By: D.N. Erikson

Plot:

Magical cults are better left alone. Especially when they’ve got friends in high places.

When twenty-three bodies are discovered on the edge of the Fallout Zone, the FBI calls in Ruby Callaway and Colton Roark to investigate. From the powerful dark magic branded into the bodies, Ruby quickly determines those responsible: the Crusaders of Paradisum. Which is impossible, considering Ruby killed their Crusading Prophet, scattering the cult to the wind over a century ago.

But some people just don’t know when to stay dead – especially when they’ve made new friends in powerful places. And that’s a problem Ruby needs to fix.

Before it kills her first.

Review:

It took me a while to get into this book. Part of that is that I had two library books I had to read before I could read this and since they were cozy mysteries it took me a little while to shift gears. Part of it was also because it used a plot device I’m not overly fond of, it started off with an action scene and then flashed back twenty-four hours. Hawaii Five-0 does that a lot and it’s started to annoy me.

Anyway, by fifty-five percent into the book I was invested and interested again. I wish there was a bit more world building and a bit more detail. There was also a lot going on, with multiple life and death plots which made it slightly hard to keep up with what was going on and what action had to do with which plot.

All in all, it wasn’t as good as the first book, but I’m still invested in the series and looking forward to the third and final book.

3/5