Along Came a Demon by Linda Welch

Title: Along Came a Demon
Author: Linda Welch
Genre: Paranormal Mystery
Length: 204 pages

One-sentence summary

Tiff is a police psychic/medium who gets partnered with a demon police officer while investigating a young boy's disappearance.

Summary

(from Goodreads) I'm told the dead are all around us. I wouldn't know about that - I see only the violently slain. They could be victims of hit-and-run, innocents caught in a cross-fire or the murdered. They whisper to me and they never, ever, forget the face of their killer. They aren't the only supernatural things I see. No, they're not vampires, werewolves or fae - those things don't exist. We live side by side with what some call the Otherworldy, but that's too much of a mouthful for me. I call them demons. If you saw them as I do you'd know why. Right now I'm trying to find Lawrence, the missing son of a murdered woman. Or was she murdered? But Clarion PD gave me a partner I would rather shoot than work with. I can't tell them he's a demon. They'd think I'm crazy.


Characters 

Tiff is tough, dry-witted and generally likeable though I would have liked to have seen a bit more of her softer side. She always behaved believably and wasn't too tough or too weak; just right.

Royal (the partner from Clarion PD) is sexy, sweet, and caring and if it wasn't for his tendency to assume too much, he'd be too perfect to be believed.

Mike (Tiff's handler at Clarion PD) fell flat for me. Rather boring and I didn't understand his motivations.

Mel & Jack are Tiff's roommates. I thought they were good supporting characters and with a little extra *something* they could have been GREAT characters so I hope there is much more of them in the future.

Plot

As a reader, I enjoy plot much more than any other aspects of books. Welch has crafted an intriguing story in a fascinating world. There were a few hiccups where things occurred I didn't quite believe, but there was plenty of tension and mystery to keep me interested. And just the right amount of romance, in my opinion.

The pacing was enjoyable until the very end. I felt the resolution was rushed and the huge info-dump about EVERYTHING at the end turned me off a bit. If Tiff had gleaned some of this info from clues throughout the whole book it would have been much more satisfying. Also I would have liked to have seen the climax build to where it went; as it is, it jumps from mediocre tension to a how-is-she-going-to-get-out-of-this-one level, which was jarring.

Design

The inside of the book was mostly well-done with only a few minor hiccups in line spacing and a strange page count issue (my nook says it is 1019 pages long but every page 'flip' was equivalent to 3-5 pages).

The cover is another story. I would have NEVER picked this book up based on either cover (I've seen two).

Writing

I definitely think Welch could have benefited from a strong edit on this book. Though it wasn't overwhelming, the writing could do with some tightening and overall improvement. The major issues - repetitive phrasing, odd sentence structure, akward phrasing - occasionally pulled me out of the story. At some points, I felt the description of places went overboard and I started to skim.

An inconsistent POV troubled me at times. Tiff tells the reader more-or-less everything until she figures out where the boy is and then she goes all secretive on us - so it felt cheap to me.

However, the voice of the main character was fun and enjoyable with a conversational, sarcastic tone.


World Creation

This is my favorite part of this book. I enjoyed and easily understood the mytholoy and magic system. I won't say more as to avoid spoilers, but she has a great base for further stories.


Overall 

3.5 stars
(A note on my star system)


Recommended For

People looking for a shorter, fast-paced, easy read and don't mind less-than-perfect writing.

Purchase

Kindle ($0.99)
Amazon paperback ($6.50)
NookBook ($0.99)
Smashwords ($0.99)