Book Review: Ten Plagues by Mary Nealy

Publisher: Barbour Books
Publication Date: October 1, 2011

Detective Keren Collins is investigating the disappearance of a missing woman when a building explodes, starting a cascade of evil acts. She and her partner, O'Shea, end up joining forces with a cop-turned-pastor Paul Morris, to hunt down a demon-possessed killer. Keren must use her spiritual discernment combined with her investigative skills to help catch the killer before it is too late.

Mary Nealy has crafted an interesting plot with her concept of a killer who follows the Biblical ten plagues to unleash evil on the city of Chicago. I think that the scenes written from the killer's perspective were very well done and he is a fascinating character. However, many of the scenes between Keren and Paul seemed a bit jeuvanile and unrealistic, and I got frustrated with the wild swings in their relationship from utter dislike one moment to attraction the next. Although I tried hard to like Keren as a character, and did admire her grit and determination to see justice accomplished, she left a sour taste in my mouth. I hope that in reality a professional would not act like Keren does. She appeared quite angry in many scenes, possessing a very ungodly attitude when she is supposed to be a strong, discerning Christian. In my opinion, the plot itself was strong, but the characterization made the book less enjoyable for me.

Unfortunately, I can only give this book a mild recommendation of 3 out of 5 stars. 

This review is based on an electronic copy provided by the publisher via netgalley for the purpose of completing this review.