Hi folks. While I’m currently hip deep in Charles Stross’s The Laundry Files, I found a great author about two years ago, and I’m steering all kinds of people over to him.
John Conroe decided to write The Demon Accords because he read his daughter’s Twilight books and his only comment was "Vampires. Do. Not. F***ing. Sparke!
We hear you, John.
Imagine a world where demons exist, and Heaven and Hell have a covenant, an accord, to not interfere on Earth. Naturally the demons ignore this whenever they can, and so God is granted just one human per generation to be the "Hammer of God’.
That man is Chris Gordon, former NYPD rookie and self-fallen angel. When he sees a beautiful girl attacked by a human wearing the skin suit of a dead man, he steps in to destroy it, and when she feeds on him they discover that her vampire blood makes him faster, stronger, and more lethal.
And then things get real.
The first time I read through this series I kind of felt that Gordon was overpowered. However, as the series progressed I realized that it must be taken as a whole. For the first few books, he is overpowered. But as things evolve and the story arcs you realize that he’s barely past pinch one, and if anything, for the latter half of the series he is at a serious disadvantage. Not only are the things he’s facing more and more deadly, but they don’t feel any of the emotions that cause Chris to falter in combat; no fear for a fallen comrade or love for someone that makes you take reckless chances when they’re in danger.
Of the authors I’ve discovered in the last five years, Conroe remains the best, followed by Larry Correia of the similarly-themed Monster Hunter International series.
I believe the first of the 18 Demon Accords books is available on Amazon for 99 cents right now. It’s definitely worth a buck.