THIS TOWN'S GOING
STRAIGHT TO HELL.
With its cross-cultural mix of good ol' boys, big bad
wolves, and otherworldly beings, Behr County is the last place you'd want to be
a cop. But for Sheriff Dev Whitsun, it's Sweet Home Alabama—and he plans to
keep it that way. Famous last words. When a gruesome shifter massacre rocks the
community, the sexy sheriff needs more than a badge and a few silver bullets.
He needs the help of an immortal demon hunter. Her name is Arta, High Huntress
of the Kirvahni. Whatever that means. Dev is no position to be picky about
partners right now. But when Arta turns out to be the one female he could
really fall for, Dev knows he's in for one hell of a ride. God help them all .
. .
Demon Hunting with a Southern
Sheriff (Demon Hunting, book six) by Lexi George
Start date: April 10,
2022
End date: April 16,
2022
Rating: 3 out of 5
stars
Content warning: child abuse, pregnancy
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for
my honest review.
I requested a copy of this book from NetGalley before realizing it was part of a series, let alone the sixth (and maybe final?) book in the series. After they approved me, I realized my error. Despite never having heard of the Demon Hunting series or Lexi George, I pressed on because the book summary really had me wanting to read it.
It’s marketed as a paranormal romance, but I think it had more in common with high fantasy romance. From the onset, there were so many different types of creatures (none of which were explained) and new terms and new characters that I was lost in the way that I am when I read similarly dense high fantasy novels. There were too many characters for me to keep track of. If I had read the previous books in the series, perhaps this wouldn’t have been an issue for me, but I thought I should mention it anyway. (At least half of the characters mentioned in this book seemed to be new to this book, however.) It was difficult to keep up with who was related to who and in what way.
The mystery of the story is a slew
of killings caused by demons that Dev, the sheriff of Beyr County, is trying to
solve. Dev is a supernatural creature; in what way isn’t explained to him until
a couple chapters in when his father comes upon him in the forest and reveals
his relationship—some 30 years after Dev was born! Dev was raised by his great
aunt (who’s a river goddess) who explains Dev’s entire genetic makeup to his
love interest, Arta, about halfway through the book. Arta is a roughly ten-thousand-year-old
demon hunter who’s obligated to stick around until she finds the demon that’s
been killing humans and kills it. This storyline is forgotten about in lieu of
another conflict and Dev and Arta’s budding romance. It’s remembered at the
very end and resolved abruptly.
The other conflict involves Pratt,
who is an evil god bent on stealing a magical orb from an albino sasquatch
named Sugar. The orb can only be held by those pure of heart, which Pratt is
not so previously he forced another demon hunter to hold the orb before it was
given to Sugar to hold onto. There’s all this buildup to (what should be) an
epic battle, which stretches for a good length of time when it does occur, only
for Pratt to be turned to stone by a gorgon and then accidentally shattered by
a giant. Pratt is the brother of the main character’s father, i.e., Dev’s
uncle. Pratt’s other siblings are distraught and want to seek revenge (as gods
tend to do), but they’re waylaid and too easily pacified to be believable. If I
didn’t think this was the last book in this series, I would think the plotline
was set aside for a future book. Who knows? Maybe it still will be.
The “bad” characters fit too nicely
into the villain mold. Pratt kills for the orb, sacrificing lots of other
people for this end, but the explanation for why he is that way is simply that
he’s gone insane. The people behind the demon killings have been selling humans
to demons to supplement their lavish lifestyle. They have no remorse for the
people they’ve killed:
“The way I see it, we’re doing the world a service by getting rid of the riffraff…homeless people and runaways and the like.” (George ch. 25)
They’re a speciesist on top of that,
believing that killing paranormal and supernatural people is cleaning up the
world. I wished there was more depth to these villains. No one is completely
evil; there’s still some shred of humanity in them whether it’s that they like
animals or that they love their moms. That’s what makes the idea of bad guys so
uncomfortable—the idea that anyone could do those horrible things.
The romance
between Dev and Arta was cute but ultimately felt unearned. They started off
disliking each other and resenting the other’s involvement in the demon
killings investigation. Dev realizes that he has feelings for Arta right away. They
start having sex under the guise of relieving stress from said investigation that
they’re conducting, which causes Dev some stress because he has real feelings
for Arta. Arta confronts the idea that she loves Dev despite love being something
her kind doesn’t experience. The happily ever after soon follows. (Side note: I
didn’t like the role that intoxication had in their relationship. Dev and Arta first
have sex when Dev is tipsy from drinking beer. Arta doesn’t realize she’s in
love with Dev until after becoming intoxicated by eating chocolate.)
I feel like this book was the closure to the series. The ending felt final like the storylines from previous books were wrapping up at the end of this book. Arta and Dev’s own story wraps up neatly. I’d like to go back and read the other books in the series to understand all of who those characters were and why their endings were significant. Here’s the short of it: don’t be like me. Read the other books in the order they were meant to be read in.
Works Cited
George, Lexi. Demon Hunting with a Southern Sheriff. Lyrical Press, 2022.
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