#Thursday Review - The Brimstone Deception by Lisa Shearin (Urban Fantasy)

Series: SPI Files # 3
Format: Paperback, 304 pages
Release Date: January 26, 2016
Publisher: Ace/Penguin
Source: Publisher
Genre: Urban Fantasy

Men in Black meets Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum in the new urban fantasy novel starring seer Makenna Fraser and her fellow agents at Supernatural Protection & Investigation.

The agents of Supernatural Protection & Investigations (SPI) know that fighting evil is a full-time job, especially when a new designer drug—with mind-blowing side effects—hits the streets...
 
It’s called Brimstone. And after the first few hits, you’ll see every supernatural beast sharing the sidewalk, train, or office with you. After that, you’ll start seeing the really scary stuff. 
 
I’m Makenna Fraser, seer for the SPI. And the collateral damage caused by Brimstone is something I’d like to unsee: dead drug dealers missing their hearts—and souls. Because your local pusher doesn’t stand a chance against the new cartel muscling its way into New York. And since the drug can only be produced with magic and molten brimstone fresh from Hell, that means a rift to the underworld is open somewhere in the city.
 
And when—not if—the cartel loses control of it, well...
 
It’s going to be Hell on earth.

The Brimstone Deception is the third installment in Lisa Shearin's SPI Files series. The series features Makenna Foster who is one of only 5 seers world wide. She has been apart of an organization called Supernatural Protection and Investigations (SPI) for about a year now. The story actually picks up shortly after the finish of The Dragon Conspiracy. Mac and her SPI partner/bodyguard Ian Byrne don't get much time off to celebrate defeating yet another dangerous villain when all hell breaks out with the introduction of a drug called Brimstone into the NYC market.

Brimstone allows humans and supernaturals to see through glamours and read mines. For humans, it actually erases their memories. The drug is mostly beneficial to Elves and Goblins who continue to spy on each other. To make things even more interesting, and none too coincidentally, incidents happen at a certain black mage's properties. The same black mage, Rake Danescu, who has been hounding Mac since she first became an agent and showed up at his sex club in a previous installment.

Shearin even makes things more interesting for Mac by giving her a new ability that is handy dandy and comes into play more than a few times. Despite my earlier angst about Mac, I am finding myself comfortable with who she has become. She not a kickass character like Gin Blanco, of Jane Yellowrock, but she's not a Mary Sue who cowers behind her partner. She has become part of a family, and those like Vivienne Sagadracco and Alain Moreau, have begun to trust in her instincts rather than question them. 

As the third installment in the SPI files ends, there is a curious storyline that I can't help wondering where it will go next. I've never quite opened up to Rake Danescu, and yet having him as an important cog to what happens in this story, has made me warm up towards him a bit more. I am curious about the relationship between Mac and Rake. He obviously has some feelings for her, but you have to ask yourself why. I feel as though Shearin has clear intentions towards making them a couple against all odds, and those who hate him, like Ian for example. I dare say that Rake is not the hero type, yet he continues to surprise me time and time again.

Next Installment: TBA 

Amazon | Audible | Barnes & Noble | Kobo