Diana Rowland (1) (1966–)

Some people go gung-ho over angel UF, my thing is the darker stuff. Reeling from my encounter with the Hollows series, where the books carved a permanent place in my psyche, I itched for more demon themed Urban Fantasy stuff. Not easy to find done well, especially since so much of it is poorly done Paranormal Romance stuff that I have no interest in reading.

Mark of the Demon did scare me with its beginning. Jumps into a sex scene in the very beginning, which usually turns me off, and I show more worried dullness/cheapness would follow. Thankfully that's not the case as the sex scene that popped up so soon is promptly shut in the closet and hidden. The rest is pure story, thankfully with the absence of senseless nookie.

This one holds a unique touch - a blend of urban fantasy with the investigative crime scene. Sure all of them have mysteries and many heroines are in law enforcement of sorts, but this one more so. She's a homicide detective working her first case involving a serial killer in a small town of Louisiana, along with a yummy FBI agent who grows on you, forensics, morgue trips, you name it. The book focuses as much on police procedure as it does the arcane magic she investigates.

Kara is a genuinely likeable heroine - tough but flawed and insecure, not beautiful at all but yearning to have companionship, having to hide a large amount of what she is and can do to avoid enduring small town ignorance. Rhyzkahl was awesome - powerful, sexy, terrifying, and you never know where you stand with him. At first it seemed she was very valuable, then almost like she wasn't, so I suppose other books will fill in more of the secrets so I can finally catch on.

I'm a character-orientated gal, so this book totally works in that respect. Plot wise it's different, edgy, dark and demented. The ending was incredible, and there's nothing light and fluffy about this story and the evil man they're investigating. Again, awesome. show less

The thing I've enjoyed most about the previous White Trash Zombies books has been the development of Angel Crawford from junkie, high school drop out, loser to hard-working zombie morgue worker with a good heart and firm friendships.

I'm not sure whether this book presses the turbo-charge button on that development or sets us off on a completely different path. It's unsettling. I think Dianne Rowland means it to be. By the end of this book, it's clear that we're not going to have a series of show more Angel books that repeats the same plots and characters like a familiar soap. There is a story arc here and I suspect the ride is going to get very bumpy

Angel Crawford goes through a series of changes in this book that make her look less familiar. She is taken away from her home town to the bright lights of New York City which she gawks at like any first-time tourist and which also has some unpleasant surprises in store for her, one of which is a store owner who tries to rape her. Suddenly Angel becomes Wasp from "The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest" and is one step away from killing her assailant. Next we see her in action against the Saberton bad guys (and the things they do really are I-think-I'm-going-to-throw-up bad) where, with the help of special chemical "mods", she becomes Ninja Angel, moving at speed and killing with ease. It doesn't stop there. She for plot reasons that I won't reveal, she goes on to be the one who negotiates with Saberton and becomes Power-play Angel, right down to the fancy clothes and bringing her own armed muscle who always politely refers to her as "Miss Crawford."

All of this is well done. The action scenes and the dialogue work, the plot kept me turning the pages and there's still a sort of did-I-do-that amazement, tinged with self-deprecating humour that keeps Angel from being simply monstrous.

When the time came to go home, I stated to wonder if it was "Miss Crawford" or "Angel" I'd be reading about next.

It turned out that Dianne Rowling had one more change to throw my way: the re-emergence of the old Angel who is still connected to her old boy friend, still having fights in bars, still fighting the same urges.

By the cliff-hanger end of the book the old angel and the new angel are ready to produce something different - good or bad is still to be seen but you can bet that I'll be buying the next book to find out.

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The friend who lent me this novel commented that one of the fine things about it was how well grounded in ordinary life it is. Detective Kara Gillian is just a normal policewoman, except for the small matter that she has the vocation of calling demons. Yes, the core of the story is about how she inadvertently calls a demon lord, and thus finds herself sucked into an ever accelerating series of serial killings, which tie into a family inheritance of a past summoning that went very wrong, but show more that the story is so well-grounded in lived-in detail that the sense of place and way of life almost overshadows the fantasy elements. This is not to mention that the costs involved in dealing with the looming menace are very high indeed, and very poignant. The interesting question will be whether the author can one-up this book, having obviously poured so much of herself into it. show less

I've been living with my craving for more "White Trash Zombie" since May, so, when volume five finally arrived, I scarfed it down like a pre-rot zombie would a handful of fresh brains.

Was it good?

No.

It was Fan-Fuckn-Tasticly good.

What makes it work so well is that, after the Zombie-world-building adventures of "White Trash Zombie Apocalypse" and "How The White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back", Diana Rowland has narrowed her focus and concentrated on Angel again.

Angel isn't doing so well. show more "White Trash Zombie Gone Wild" picks up from the doom-laden ending of the last novel where ex-junkie Angel is craving a new drug - V12 - which might destroy the life she's built for herself since becoming a zombie.

The first part of the book gives a very plausible view of the lies we tell ourselves about our addictions and what they're doing to us. It was scarier than all the machete-wielding, baseball bat-swinging, gun-toting hunters. It made Angel more human than ever and made you love her more.

The plot is complicated, fits well with the overall story arc and yet remains character-driven, which is what makes it so good to read.

I loved the friendship between Angel and her loser ex-boyfriend. Just because they don't want to date anymore doesn't mean they don't care for each other. Angel knows that although he lacks ambition, will always take the easy road and will never be far away from trouble, he has a good heart and she wishes him well. Of course, that doesn't stop her shouting at him and threatening him when she thinks he's going off the rails. This is Angel Crawford we're talking about and channeling red-necked pissed-offedness is one of her talents.

Throughout the book Angel finds herself having to reconsider what she thought she knew about people, including herself. This willingness to learn, combined with her determination to pull her skinny-assed weight even if that means putting herself in danger, is what makes her so likable.

A great deal of my pleasure in these books comes from the remarkable performance Allison McLemore gives. She IS angel. If you have the chance to listen to "White Trash Zombie Gone Wild", take it. Allison McLemore brings the whole thing alive. show less