Review: The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay

The Better Part of Darkness by Kelly Gay

Urban Fantasy

Pocket (Nov 24, 2009)

ISBN: 978-1439109656

384 pages

Synopsis from KellyGay.net:

Divorced mother of one, Charlie Madigan, lives in a world where the beings of heaven and hell exist among us, and they aren't the things of Sunday school lessons and Hallmark figurines. In the years since the Revelation, they've become our co-workers, neighbors, and fellow citizens.

Charlie works for ITF (Integration Task Force). It's her job to see that the continued integration of our new "friends" goes smoothly and everyone obeys the law, but when a new off-world drug is released in Underground Atlanta, her daughter is targeted, and her ex-husband makes a fateful bargain to win her back, there's nothing in heaven or earth (or hell for that matter) that Charlie won't do to set things right.

The Better Part of Darkness is clearly the start of a great urban fantasy series. The world that Kelly Gay has created is original, detailed and engrossing.

Tough, determined, and often snarky, Charlie Madigan holds her own in a genre full of Rachel Morgan and Kate Daniels-esque heroines. Charlie is only beginning a journey fraught with internal and external discoveries. The cast of characters along for the ride with her are just as richly imagined as she. Charlie's very independent and gung-ho spirit takes a few beatings throughout this novel and she finds herself having to increasingly rely on a growing group of family, friends, and strangers to aid her along. Among them is her sexy and loyal partner Hank, whose dedication to Charlie and her daughter Emma is an amazing thing to behold, considering he's not even related to them. One of the distinguishing factors of Gay's story is the heroine's status as a divorced mother of a teenager, an altogether uncommon occurrence in urban fantasy novels. Her love for her daughter is palpable and a constant presence in every scene, even those that don't feature Emma. I also enjoyed Charlie's internal conflict about her relationship with her ex-husband, Will. Her struggle to forgive his past transgressions and her efforts to move on balances her bad-ass image and makes her seem all the more real.

While there's no big mystery to solve in this initial installment, the novel still manages to be suspenseful. This is mainly due to Gay's creatively imagined world and the characters that inhabit it. Though a bit lengthy, I never felt my attention wander. Gay's richly drawn Atlanta reminds me of another captivating supernatural take on the southern city - Ilona Andrews's Kate Daniels series. Straying away from the typical vampire/shapeshifters/werewolves-type creatures, Gay gives us a variety of supernatural species resembling gods and monsters of myths but with her own twists. I particularly like her world building because it's originality added to the overall suspense of the tale. It's easy to see that all of the setting-up and establishing is leading up to something big, and I am certainly looking forward to finding out what's in store for Charlie and her Atlanta.

Grade: B+