A Book in My Back Pocket

Brendan Wallace is sitting in a hotel room, his wrists are bound at the back of the chair with silk scarf. A beautiful and exotic woman from an escort service is in the room with him. Brendan is walking a fine line because while living a sexual fantasy, he is also an undercover vice officer working to expose a prostitution ring. Brendan wants desperately to taste the forbidden but knows he cannot cross the line because he has a job to do.

The woman begins a careful erotic seduction and vivid carnal dreams swirl through Brendan’s mind, he tries to keep control as money has to change hands if he and his partners (who are filming the scene in an adjacent room) are going to make the arrest. After a series of seductive, suggestive whispers, the woman pierces Brendan with a clever sharp-tongued barb and leaves the hotel room. The suspect has made him as a cop and played him like a fiddle.

Later, Brendan sits alone at a bar drowning his sorrows in alcohol and we learn that he is newly divorced and his ex-wife Jenna is pregnant and about to remarry. Brendan hasn’t had sex in a year; he is lonely and has no personal life. He is new on the vice squad and now has to face the brunt of jokes because the prostitute made him as an officer. However, the blue eyed woman is haunting him, he wants her in the worst way but knows it is forbidden. Brendan pulls her scented red silk scarf out of his pocket and the perfume heightens his sensual daydream, then he hears a soft voice with a slight European accent. Brendan looks up from his musings and she is there.

Brendan becomes acquainted with Líadán Niamh, a woman who he should reject but cannot. Líadán embodies every fantasy Brendan has ever dreamt of in a woman. Aside from her beauty, she is intelligent and sexually adventuresome taking him to new heights of arousal and fulfillment. Oh, and Líadán bites.

I initially thought Ms. Quinn had written Brendan as a sexual submissive in this book, however it was quite the opposite. Brendan proves to be an incredibly strong Alpha male protagonist as his relationship with Líadán intensifies and the plot progresses.

Líadán is a complex character. Kidnapped from her little farm in Hungary centuries earlier by Auguste Maximilian, a depraved psychopath, she is eventually turned into a vampyr and enslaved by him. Auguste has to be one of the most vile, sadistic vampyr antagonists I’ve read in a paranormal romance. His minions are enslaved through fear and dark magic. He feeds on torturing, terrorizing and murdering young women.

When the mutilated bodies of women begin to show up in Brendan’s town, he and his colleagues are ordered to investigate the killings.

Through his involvement with Líadán, Brendan is ensnared in a web of betrayal and intrigue that could ultimately cost both their lives. The plot of this story is full of twists and turns. My knuckles were white gripping the book at times and I could hear myself saying, "no don't go there", "don't do that". lol

Brendan has a sister Danika (Dani) who is gifted with special powers as a witch and plays a pivotal role in the storyline. Dani is an awesome character and I understand she is the heroine of Ms. Quinn’s forthcoming novel “Man After Midnight”, I am eagerly looking forward to the read.

Flesh and the Devil is a darkly erotic, exciting and at the same time frightening novel. There is one scene in the book that involves the slaughter of a domestic animal that I found horrifying, because of who I am. But again, it is written in keeping with the nature of these vampyr creatures. I have to say that the climax of this book is absolutely spectacular and thrilling.

If you like your paranormal reads on the darker side that gets your heart pumping and blood flowing I highly recommend “Sins of the Flesh” and “Flesh and the Devil”.