The Good, The Bad, and The Undead

Today’s post is on The Good, The Bad, and The Undead by Kim Harrison. It is the second in her Hollows series. It is 453 pages long and is published by Eos Fiction. The cover has a pentagram with Rachel standing in it. There is some language, sex, talk of rape, and lots of violence in this book and series. The intended reader is someone who likes gritty urban fantasy, strong female leads, and magic, adults only for the best. The story is told in first person point of view of Rachel. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- It’s a tough life for witch Rachel Morgan, sexy, independent bounty hunter, prowling the darkest shadows of downtown Cincinnati for criminal creatures of the night.
She can handle the leather-clad vamps and even tangle with a cunning demon or two. But a serial killer who feeds on the experts in the most dangerous kind of black magic is definitely pressing the limits.
Confronting an ancient, implacable evil is more than just child’s play- and this time, Rachel will be lucky to escape with her very soul.

Review- I, like just about everyone else who like urban fantasy, like this series. Rachel is a very strong female lead. She is pretty funny, clever, and willing to be wrong. Rachel thinks from the beginning of the book that Trent, another of the main characters, is THE bad guy. He is a bad guy but he is not the bad guy and when she discovers that Rachel deals with it. She is not afraid of being wrong, just staying wrong. I like a person, real or not, that can handle being wrong. There is so much going on this book. More world building, more character development, and of course getting stuff in line for the next book. I do not say that as a bad thing. I do not see where Harrison is going with the overall story but I like to see the threads for future books being laid out. In the world building we see more of Cincinnati and the Hallows. For character development we learn a lot about Rachel. Most of it what very unexpected and interesting. I must include a warning about the rape- it happens off camera but it feels very real. It is a very important plot point for Ivy in this book at the very least if not for the rest of the series. Harrison handles it well in my opinion. The rape is horrible but I was not overwhelmed by it. I really want Harrison to talk about it later in the series. Rape is something very serious and should not just by a plot point. It should change the character it happens to and those around them. I recommend this book and series.

I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this book with my own money.