Review of Devil to Pay (Night Huntress Universe #3.5) by Jeaniene Frost
Devil to Pay is book 3.5 in the series Night Huntress Universe.
Blake Turner had it all until a demon took residence in his soul. Now plagued with blackouts that leave a trail of bodies in his wake, he just wants to end it all and escape the demon's grasp. When he meets Elise, a vampire, he thinks he's found his deliverance.
Elise feels strangely protective of Blake and is determined to find a way to save him. She's hidden from others for so long, it's a shock when she begins to care for Blake.
Unfortunately for them, their budding feelings come right before Blake has to die.
This was a novella, less than fifty pages, that comes early in the Night Huntress series. Cat and Bones appear briefly, but Mencheres has a larger role.
I really enjoyed this exploration of a totally new couple, and despite dealing with demonic possession, it differed greatly from what happened in First Drop of Crimson, when Denise sought Spade's help with the attachment of the demon to her. I appreciate that when there is a limited range of subjects an author can draw upon in their created world, they find a new angle to explore instead of relying on the same basis for a story over and over.
This angle felt fresh and new to me, though in the reviews on Goodreads, I saw it compared to the prequel novella.
Since it's a novella, we didn't get the chance to explore the characters as much as I would have liked, but I felt their passion and the sense of urgency surrounding Blake's necessary death—and the increasing pain it caused Elise. Her revelation of what her life had been like broke my heart, and I adored her all the more. Blake's past didn't endear me to him, but his feelings for Elise and his self-sacrificing nature did.
I really enjoyed this novella, and I found it to be an enjoyable part of the Night Huntress saga.
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