Black City Demon by Richard A Knaak

• Format: Audible
• Obtained from: Narrator (I think) on Audiobookboom
• Print length: 366 pages
• Publisher: Crossroad Press
• ISBN: 9781633882751 (PB)
• Narrator: Joshua Saxon

I had the pleasure of reviewing Black City Saint  on audio a while back, so I thought it something of a treat to get to review the sequel too. Nick and his motley crew have beaten the Wyld, preventing their descet into Chicago, and life has settled down. With no major threats on the horizon, Nick, Claryce and Fetch settle into a semblance of a normal life, which for Nick means ghost-hunting. Not real ghosts mind you, but things that go bump in the night. A debunker, so to speak. It might seem somewat odd that a man who posseses the soul of a dragon and has fought creatures from Celtic mythology is debunking ghosts, but just roll with it. Nick starts to discover some real ghosts – way too many real ghosts – and figures something is rotten in Denmark. It turns out Claryce has been doing her own investigations, and has the jump on Nick, but is now attracting the wrong kind of attention – perhaps an even greater threat than that they faced in the first book. Here are my thoughts on the story:

• I preferred this book to the original. Maybe that had something to do with the fact that there was no need for exposition (not that it was done badly in BCS), but I felt more at home with everyone. Instead of a “happy ever after” approach, Nick avoids Claryce to keep her out of harm’s way. However, in true heroic style, she wasn’t interested in what he thought and had begun her own investigation into the growing ghost problem. Fetch is still Fetch, and we’re never 100% what side he is on, unlike the Dragon, whose favourite pasttime seems to be posessing Nick – something that amps up in BCD
• Did I mention there is a bad guy? While we had to deal with Feirie last time, they were creatures out of myth, and (subconciously I guess) seemed less frightening for it (unlike the Dragon, our inner demon). This time we have a flesh and blood human, a serial killer, who flies under the rader in a time when we didn’t have an information superhighway to keep us warned. To compare to book one again, I like that the identity and “habits” of this antagonist are kept under wraps and slowly revealed, unlike BCS where it was more obvious from the start.
• I continue to enjoy the setting. Proibition is now in full swing, and the cops are too busy chasing smugglers and busting speakeasies to see what’s going on around them. What I particularly enjoy about “period” pieces like this, is how hard it is to dig up information. Nick and Claryce constantly have to question potentially unreliable sources,  including an institutionalized man, or scan old newspapers and paperwork to find leads, adding a degree of complexity to their detective work. Knaak makes sure that the story oozes 1920s Chicago.
• Finally, in this second part of the series, the Dragon starts to make his presence known more, and on these occasions, it becomes harder for Nick to regain control. This concept is my favourite part of the series, and is quite unique. But there is an added catch this time. Dual personalities aside, the Dragon also fears the antagonist, adding a frightening dimension to Nick’s new foe. What kind of human is fearsome enough to frighten a dragon?

Verdict

Not many sequels surpass the frst book. This is one of them.