Author: Kim Harrison

Published by Harper Collins 2005

Score: Story: 88%, Character Development: 90%, Flow: 90%, Overall: 89%

Kim Harrison’s third book in the Hollows series brings us back deep into Rachel’s life as an Independent Runner, working with her partners Ivy and Jenks. An elf that Rachel rescued from a demon (aka Big Al) now lives in the neighborhood, and is teaching Rachel how to twist and use spells and curses; and how to become her own familiar to hold Ley-line power within herself.

Rachel goes up against Trent Kalamack, local Councilman, and ‘Elf in Hiding’. If finding out that her father and Trent’s father were partners before her father’s death wasn’t enough, Rachel is now being called up by Big Al to pay her debt . Rachel is to become Al’s familiar in exchange for his court testimony that put Piscary in prison. Harrison’s Hollows series has developed it’s own version of our modern world.

The continuity and ‘gotta read the next chapter’ have been honed to keep the story flowing smoothly and pulling the reader along. I’ve laughed out loud several times, and held my breath through almost every fight scene. Go figure, it’s a book, why do you hold your breath?

Click on the book cover to purchase Every Which Way but Dead on Amazon.com.

Review by Penny Williams