Kim Harrison: Pale Demon

• ISBN-13: 9780061138072
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Publication date: 11/29/2011
• Pages: 528

 Condemned for black magic, Rachel Morgan has three days to get to the annual witches' conference in San Francisco to clear her name. if not, she'll be trapped in the demonic ever-after...forever. 
 But a witch, an elf, a living vampire, and a pixy travelling 2,000 miles in one car is a recipe for disaster - not even counting the assassination teams waiting in ambush...or the demon they unleash on St. Louis.
 Now, after centuries of torment, a fearsome creature walks free, craving innocent blood and souls - especially Rachel Morgan's, who'll need to fully embrace her own demonic nature to survive. And even that may not be enough. 

 Oh, Rachel. You've done it again - managed to get yourself into a situation you can't escape without making your life substantially worse.
 We pick off a few months after we left off, with Rachel preparing to go bridesmaiding at her brother's wedding. Unfortunately, what with the events of the last novel, there is quite a bit of doubt as to whether she's actually going to make it. Then - surprise of surprises - Trent shows up asking for her help with something he needs done, but he's not going to tell her what it is. I'll pause to allow a moment of shock to sink it. Trent asking Rachel for help? Did the world end while I was sleeping? No, he just really needs her help. When Rachel (naturally) can't get through airport security because the Council is determined to make her life as difficult as possible, we have the perfect storm - for a road trip.
 Yes, you heard me. This novel is essentially a Lampoon Family Vacation in which all of the members of the family want to kill the annoying one. So basically a family vacation. Jenks, Ivy, Rachel, and Trent all bundles themselves into Rachel's mother's car and away they go, bickering all the way to the West coast. Of course, along the way they run into some nasties, including demons and mercenary elves, because whatever Trent wants, other people apparently want it, too. And when you find out what that thing is - hoo boy. I was shocked and I am so very anticipating what new developments that revelation will bring.
 Furthermore, Rachel is called on once again to use the very powers she is being crucified for. And she isn't going to get any thanks for it either. The difference is that this time, she doesn't care. Rachel is fed up with people trampling all over for something she has no control over, and I for one cheered raucously. Instead of trying to force her life into the shape she thinks it should be, she finally accepts that, for the time being at least, she is royally screwed and why waste energy trying to fight it? Accept it and make the best of it. You go, Ray-ray (oh, bad memories. Let's not call her that ever again).
 This one wasn't as action packed as the last one, and I liked it better for that. In my last review I mentioned that. Sometimes it just gets to be a little too much and you want some time to breathe between catastrophes. Harrison gave us that in this installment, and we got to remember why we liked the characters so much in the first place. Plus - road trip. Substantial time for hilarious dialogue and super-frustrating-bitch-Trent moments.
 Overall: A