The author is a self-professed Christian, and that belief (becoming saved) permeates the book. At first I thought that might be a problem. It seems like a fixed fight. After all, are you going to have evil win? And there certainly are good heroes like Jonathan Steel and villains, such as “Raven” the code name for female assassin, Elizabeth Allen Poe. But there is also Josh, a high school kid whose mother died in the first book. He is a new Christian but a little disillusioned by his protector, Steel, and drawn back to a cult of vampires (one of which is his girlfriend, Ila). The book asks the intriguing question: Would someone renounce their faith to save another? There are some other colorful characters who add texture to the tale: a six-foot seven homeless man helping Steel, the 12th Demon, Wulf, and a tough woman cop, Lieutenant Kane. .

The action makes you dizzy and some of the metamorphoses are cinematic to say the least: “Vivian struggled in the grip of Wulf’s claws, snapping her head back and forth. She moved with a rapid, nightmarish staccato, and her face began to change. Her mouth widened and revealed a row of sharp teeth. Her hair writhed into black tentacles, and her arms become jointed, chitinous appendages. Huge, white orbs filled her eyes. She seemed a combination of creatures: the teeth of a shark, the limbs of a praying mantis, and the tentacles of a squid.”