I haven't read any books by Emma Holly before and I thought I'd give this one a go. When I started it I was initially rather perturbed - it seemed like I had bought a book which was erotic fiction, not something I enjoy reading. However, I persevered and I'm glad I did. There was much more to this book than it first seemed and I thought it was very well written - I just wish there was less sex and more of the rest of the plot as that plot was actually very good.
Adrian Philips is a police Inspector in a world that's sort-of like Victorian London but slightly different. There are Bow Street Runners, gas lighting, the Queen is on the throne - but this place is actually a different country in a different world where, 30 years before, a race of other people were discovered, called Demons. The demons have started to live with the humans but there is significant distrust between the two communities. Although the demons actually have a lot of modern technology (such as cars, communication screens etc) and the humans are still in 19th century levels of technology, the demons keep a lot of their technology away from the humans.
Adrian Philips, however, is the beneficiary of some demon technology, some implants that enable him to have super-human strength when he calls upon it. This is very useful for his job as a police inspector but because he has used some demon technology his colleagues shy away from him. He works the difficult beat looking for missing persons in a dodgy area of town - some young boys seem to have gone missing and people think that the demons are taking them to feed upon their life force (something which demons can do).
Adrian finds himself rather battered after a fight and ends up being looked after by Roxanne McAllister, an artist and the illegitimate daughter of a famous opera singer. She has taken in two boys from the streets, Charles and Max, and has given them a home and made a family. She looks after Adrian for a week and nature takes its course as one would expect in a novel like this - except that there's no future in it. Roxanne is from the lower classes, her personal history makes her an outcast, and Adrian is warned to sever connection with her or his job is at risk. So he does.
Roxanne has always wondered why she is so strong and when coming face to face with a demon diplomat she discovers the answer - he is undoubtedly her father, although everyone knows demons and humans can't breed together. This adds one more obstacle in the way of a relationship between her and Adrian, especially when her father tries to initiate contact with her. When she ignores this she finds Max has been removed from her care and later she and Adrian are nearly kidnapped. What is going on with her father and the prince of the demons. Is there any possible future with Adrian despite their different social levels? And what about the fact she's half a demon, surely this makes her completely beyond the pale?
What's good about this book is the way that two caring people learn to deal with the issues that initially seem too big to get past. Although there's a lot of sex in this book there's also a lot of character building, plot unravelling and a lot of consideration of how two very different races might settle in to living together just 30 years after the discovery of each other. I would recommend this book if you don't mind reading about sexual scenes because the rest of the book makes it well worth the effort.
