Kim Harrison – A perfect blood

The tenth book in the Rachel Morgan series, published February 21, 2012.
Genre: urban fantasy
Cover: I like it.



Ritually murdered corpses are appearing across Cincinnati, terrifying amalgams of human and other. Pulled in by the FIB to help investigate, former witch turned day-walking demon Rachel Morgan soon realizes a horrifying truth: others want to create their own demons, and to do so they need her blood.
She’s faced vampires, witches, werewolves, demons, and more – but this time Rachel’s toughest challenge might be humanity itself.


This book just picks up where the previous one ended, so I really recommend reading this series in order. And I wish I had reread bits of the previous one, to get better in the story from the first page.
Rachel Morgan is ousted as a demon, and that after everyone thought she was dead. Which means trouble at the DMV, as a dead person cannot get a drivers license, and without that, she cannot get a car on her name. This means she needs the bodyguard her parents hired to protect her, to drive her everywhere. Not that she thinks Wayde is a good bodyguard, and he certainly doesn’t trust her to defend herself. Of course, being cut of from her magic does make her more vulnerable. But the spelled silver string around her wrist protects her from the demons sensing her still being alive, and as she kind of made a hole in the Ever After, making their habitat leach out, she has reason enough to stay in hiding.

Both the FIB and the IS want her to give them a list of all the different demon curses she can twist but Rachel has no intention at all of giving them a list like that. They will only use it to blame all demonic action on her. They can just get some books from the library and make their own lists.
But now some people are trying to duplicate demons blood and change witches into demons, with the intention of using them to wipe out the whole of Inderland, and the IS and the FIB will need her help to track them down. And if she does not comply, they will just blame it all on Rachel and be done with it.
So Rachel has not really a choice but to help them, especially as she is a target for this HAPA group. They hate all the other species, and want the earth for the humans. When they do track down the kidnappers, pure incompetence lets them escape, and Rachel gets caught. Where is her bodyguard when she actually needs him? Or is it more than incompetence, and does HAPA really have friends and allies in high places?


This book sure has a lot of action going on, but there is also some quiet time to think for Rachel. And is she really getting closer to Trent Kalamack? I really did not like him from the first time he appeared in a book, but somehow, he manages to redeem himself here.
Still, I don’t trust his motives one bit. Of course this also makes me want to read the next book asap but it will take a lot of months before that one is published in paperback. I did enjoy getting back with the main characters, Rachel, Ivy and Jenks, and detective Glenn. I do wonder what will happen to the relationship between Ivy and Glenn though; something did happen here that was not good. Jenks is still the boss over his enormous brood of pixie children, and I enjoyed the interaction with Biss, the young gargoyle, and Belle, the wingless faery living with them. Rachel finally got her pack tattoo, and she is actually happy about it. And I think it looks gorgeous.

Action, magic, evil humans, danger, different paranormal species, relationship troubles but also some fun moments make this a captivating story.

8 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian