A mystery unfolds in Seven Devils, as LA crime reporter Danny Kasho works on the unsolved murders of two women. As he is working the case he gets a tip about a missing couple. The tip has one thing in common with his story, but to prove it Danny will have to jeopardize his career—and his life.

Very well-crafted characters and fascinating storyline. A must read.

I read this as a stand-alone book, as I was not aware that this was a book 2 before receiving it. It isn't necessary to the story line to have read book 1.

Technicalities out of the way, this book falls in the mystery/thriller category which is one of my favorite genres. I was so excited to begin this book! The first thing to note is the format is a back and forth between two different characters. Alternating point of views can be tricky to follow, especially when the stories for each character are focusing on different storylines, as was the case with Seven Devils. It took me quite a while to feel comfortable with drifting back and forth and made the story feel very broken and fractured to me. This book requires a lot of focus. As I personally put down/pick up my reads several times throughout the day, I really struggled not being able to easily fall back into the story.

The author is definitely a great writer but there were so much effort put into describing locations and situations that it detracted from the actual story for me. There were way too many analogies throughout for my taste. I found I was more focused on when the next one would show up vs what would happen in the actual storyline. I'm a fan of stories moving quickly and only focusing on situational details when they are important to the story.

The plot itself was good, if not a bit complex, with two separate investigations that seemingly had no connection as the story begins. The suspense builds throughout the book as the investigations begin to merge. The main characters, Ursula and Danny, were annoying and unlikable to me and did not hold my interest. This was a very difficult read for me, unfortunately.

Suggested Readers: For those that love mysteries/thrillers and can put the time and focus into this story, I believe this will be an entertaining read and well worth the time.

Thank you to #NetGalley for offering #SevenDevils to read for an honest review.

Loved this book. Plenty of devious surprises and crackling suspense, along with interesting characters. Just the sort of book to cause a lack of sleep, but I won't complain! Highly recommended.

*This book was provided to me as an ARC at no charge in exchange for my honest review. My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to participate in this program.*

Seven Devils is a classic slice of raw action , political insurgency, with all the traditional juicy ingredients: of dangerous maneuvers , and a cat-and-mouse plotting that is tightly crafted, smart, and disturbing, an elegantly complex thriller.

Seven Devils by Steve McManus – 4 Stars
ISBN: 9780996448543
Publisher: Steve McManus

This is an entertaining thriller/mystery with several intertwining stories: the murder of two young Chinese women in Los Angeles, a missing journalist, and a charismatic self-help guru with a cult-like international following. Two journalists investigating the same crime meet in a small town in snowy northern California.

All the different elements of the plot are brought together smoothly. The character and setting descriptions are beautifully done. The plot held my interest throughout the relatively long book and I loved the reunion at the end.

I did feel at a disadvantage for not having read the first book in the series. I wish there had been more background for the main characters, Danny and Ursula, and their obviously adversarial relationship.

I got lost in the Sci Fi dialogue of the anti-guru Zach group 808. I recognized some names from the original Star Wars movies, but since I have not kept up with current jargon the renaming of people, places and events was annoyingly confusing.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and will read more by this author.

Reviewer: Nancy