The Devil You Know by Jenna Black @jennablack

Posted August 22, 2018 by Melanie in Book Review / 20 Comments

The Devil You Know by Jenna Black @jennablackThe Devil You Know Series: Morgan Kingsley #2
Published by Dell on July 29, 2008
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 336
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
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three-half-flames
One StarOne StarOne StarOne Star

The beautiful. The bad. The possessed.

Some people worship them. Some people fear them. And some people—like Morgan Kingsley—go up against them toe-to-toe, flesh to flesh, and power against power. An exorcist by trade, Morgan is one of the few humans with an aura stronger than her possessor, even though her demon can tease her body senseless. She’s also a woman who has just discovered a shocking truth: everything she once believed about her past, her identity, may have been a lie.

With a family secret exploding around her and a full-scale demon war igniting, Morgan is a key player in an unsettled world. Then a rogue sociopathic demon enters her life with a bang. His name is The Hunter. And since she is the prey, Morgan has only one choice: to hunt The Hunter down—no matter what heartbreaking truths she uncovers along the way….

So, I’m continuing my reread of Jenna Black’s Morgan Kingsley series. She lives in a world where people willingly allow a demon to possess them to make them heal faster and become stronger. There are some who even worship these demons like gods and feel it is an honor to sacrifice your life, so the demon can walk this earth. See, when you’re possessed by a demon, you become a passenger in your own body.

Morgan is an exorcist. She has never liked the idea of demon possession, no matter how much her parents tried to convince her to take a demon. Morgan is called in to exorcise any demon who is found to break the laws, which includes violence or illegal possession. Sometimes, the human recovers their ability to live on their own without the demon and others become catatonic and may or may not ever recover.

So, there is a demon war brewing. One faction wants to allow demons full run of the human world and let them do whatever they want. There is another faction, ruled by the current demon king, who wants to keep things as is or even put more rules in place to protect humans. Morgan finds herself in the middle of this work and working with both demons and humans to help solve it.

I don’t want to go into too many details so as to avoid spoilers for both this book and the first book. I will just say this is a very interesting world. I love reading about the dynamics of Morgan’s family, which are full on fanatics when it comes to worshiping demons. Morgan learns some really difficult truths in this story, too.

I also really love these characters. Morgan is a very strong heroine, even as she makes some bad decisions at times. She’s also very vulnerable at times too. I really like her boyfriend, Brian. I think he is very good for her. He forces her to really look at herself and make those tough choices that must be made sometimes. I also really like the Adam, a cop who works on demon crimes, which is odd, since he’s demon possessed himself. There is also Adam’s boyfriend, Domenic. Dom was demon possessed, but his demon was exorcised because his demon fought off people who didn’t like demons and one person didn’t live. There is also Andy, Morgan’s brother, who when his demon is exorcised is left catatonic.

Lastly, I have to mention two demons who are prominent in this story. Lugh is the current king of the demons. He wants to keep things as is. However, his brother is trying to kill Lugh and take his throne, so that demons can turn the human world into a playground. There is also Raphael, which is another brother of Lugh’s, but this one is on Lugh’s side. Though he does have different moral code than Lugh and is willing to get his hands dirty, and even seems to enjoy it.

If you’re looking for a fun Urban Fantasy series with a strong heroine that is flawed, this is a great one for you. This world created by Jenna Black is really fun. She also has a great ability to create fun and interesting characters.

About Jenna Glass

Jenna Glass (Jenna Black) is your typical writer. Which means she’s an “experience junkie.” She got her BA in physical anthropology and French from Duke University.

Once upon a time, she dreamed she would be the next Jane Goodall, camping in the bush making fabulous discoveries about primate behavior. Then, during her senior year at Duke, she did some actual research in the field and made this shocking discovery: primates spend something like 80% of their time doing such exciting things as sleeping and eating.

Concluding that this discovery was her life’s work in the field of primatology, she then moved on to such varied pastimes as grooming dogs and writing technical documentation. She writes paranormal romance for Tor and urban fantasy for Bantam Dell.

Rating Breakdown
Plot
One StarOne StarOne StarOne Star
Writing
One StarOne StarOne StarOne Star
Characters
One StarOne StarOne StarOne StarHalf a Star
Dialogue
One StarOne StarOne StarOne Star
Overall: One StarOne StarOne StarOne Star
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Posted August 22, 2018 by Melanie in Book Review / 20 Comments


20 responses to “The Devil You Know by Jenna Black

    • Melanie

      This is really fun, old school urban fantasy. It reminds me of old Anita Blake (like, first six or so books). It never got as much attention as I thought it should. I hope you get a chance to try it.

      Melanie @ Hot Listens & Books of My Heart

  1. This series sounds really good and kind of creepy. I’ve never tried this author but I think it’s about time that I did. I’ll add the first book to the ever growing pile. Wonderful review Melanie!