March 15, 2015
In this prose adaptation of a comic-book series, when a harmless game goes horribly wrong, a cursed young thief must risk everything to help a policeman rescue his daughter from the land of the dead. Brazilian orphan Luci Jenifer Inacio Das Neves-Lucifer for short-a teen master thief, specializes in keeping magical artifacts out of the hands of those who want to abuse them. A prior job against a powerful being named the Harlot left her cursed with a distinctive and indelible mark on her shoulder. Now commissioned by a police officer to retrieve his daughter from a coven of murderous witches, she's thrust into a world completely foreign to her: teenagers. While she's extremely knowledgeable about esoteric occult phenomena, she's less well-versed about teenagers and their social mores. Not only does Lucifer need to battle demons, but now she must face her fears about love and death. Though he wrote the serialized comic on which this is based, Nelson's adaptation to prose isn't seamless. His worldbuilding is a bit flat and leaves too many questions unanswered; this can work well enough in a serial comic that builds relatively quickly on each issue, but it doesn't do so well in prose. However, the book offers a cinematic blend of demonic possession, near-death experiences, and a dash of romance, and paranormal fans may be able to overlook its flaws. A bit stilted and ambitious, but an action-packed page-turner nonetheless. (Paranormal thriller. 13-17)