Book Review: Back Lash by Devon Monk

How excited was this fangirl to learn that Devon Monk had a new Shame and Terric e-book coming out in November? Super excited! Monk is one of the very few authors that I regularly check her blog page for updates. After the first two Broken Magic books, I wanted more of the two leads. Thankfully Monk has obliged her fans. Although I will note that Stone Cold (Broken Magic #2) did end in such a way that another book wasn't a given.  It also was one of my five star reads of 2015. You can imagine my happy dancing when I discovered this book was on the horizon. Yeah it was pretty epic dancing. 

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Thanks Devon Monk for providing us with an ARC of Back Lash.




From Goodreads:

Magic isn’t a blessing with drawbacks, it’s a curse with upsides.

Shame Flynn and Terric Conley hadn't meant to become the living, breathing vessels for Death and Life magic. But they hadn't meant to die, be reborn, break magic, save the world, and kill a few psychopaths along the way, either.

The one thing they had meant to do was to seal magic away so it could never be used to kill again.

When a string of dead bodies–people killed by magic–appear throughout Portland, Oregon, Shame and Terric must scramble to uncover who broke the locks on magic and how.

Before Terric’s sister becomes the next target.

Before the Russian mob locks them in their sights.

Before the question of who can control magic is decided by bullets and blood.

Our wonderful narrator Shamus (Shame for short) Flynn keeps up his wry commentary on the world around him.  He finds he can't seem to get rid of his flatmates Dash and Terric. In fact it feels like they have taken over his house. The thing is, Shame loves having them around. They're also handy to have around in case of emergencies. When Shame isn't winding people up, he seems to be getting shot. Luckily for us Life and Death magic seem to compliment each other. But how long can it be until your luck runs out? How many bullets does it take until dead really means you are dead?

Shame and Terric are in a race to discover who is using magic. They thought they had safely sealed it away, however the mounting pile of dead bodies would suggest otherwise. Is this a magic that Shame and Terric can understand or is it something new? If it's something they've never seen before, how can they defeat it? It looks like magic isn't as safely tucked away as they had planned. 

Complicating matters is the arrival of Terric's sister. While she has some valuable talents she's also put a bulls eye on her head due to her computer skills. It's up to Shame and Terric to see if they can save her. Or perhaps Jolie might just round out their team to keep magic hidden. Jolie offers a nice balance to the story. Shame doesn't have just one Conley to deal with anymore. Plus he needs a challenge in his life. 

You don't have to have read Hell Bent or Stone Cold to enjoy this book, but it does help to understand some of the back story from the previous books. It explains why Shame carries a list around in his pocket for example.  It's another wonderful book by Devon Monk and I can't wait to see what the future has install for our characters. An added bonus to the e-book is that there is a preview to Devon's next series. It sounds promising as well. Four stars for Back Lash and fingers crossed this is set up for a new series given it is also marked as Shame and Terric #1. Hope so!

What is your favourite Devon Monk series?