Review - Hell Cop by Astrid Amara et al

Hell Cop by Astrid Amara, Nicole Kimberling, and Ginn Hale is a collection of three m/m paranormal novellas that feature sex scenes in the high-3 to 4 range on the much consulted 1 to 5 sex scene scale. The novellas are stand-alone pieces, but they are also related in that they take place in Parmas City, an unusual futuristic city where anything goes especially if it's supernatural.

Each novella features a different gay couple. The couple starring in one novella gives up center stage to the next couple and takes a supporting role in the next novella. So we get to see each author's main characters through the eyes of the next author, which is intriguing and unusual.

Parmas City is a sprawling, wealthy metropolis in which humans live side-by-side with supernaturals. Succubae and incubi work in the pleasure industry and can tell by inhaling a customer's pheromones what sexual preference she or he has – and can adjust their gender and appearance accordingly.

Demons are treated as sub-humans and are forced to fight each other for money. The smaller ones are incorporated into bio-technology such as computers, surveillance equipment, and cameras. The larger, more sentient ones sometimes breed with humans which condemns their hybrid offspring to life of suspicion and harassment from the authorities.

The richest families in Parmas City are the sorcerers who have gone into high-tech industry. Occasionally one of their thrill-seeking descendents will become a hell-cop, which is an elite position on the regular police force. Hell-cops are sorcerers with military training. They are the only ones who can face an out-of-control demon or a corrupt fellow sorcerer in a duel of magic.

Next of Kin by Astrid Amara. This 104-page novella is told in two alternating, close third-person viewpoints. It features young Brian Day who has grown up on a no-magic commune and then come to Parmas City to search for his unknown father who may have connections to one of the powerful sorcerer families.

The story opens in the hospital where Brian works. Several children and wounded cops have been rushed in for treatment from wounds sustained in a fiery demon show-down in a day-care center, of all places.

Our viewpoint switches to Detective Jay Yervant who is a scion of one of the most powerful sorcerer families. He's also a hell-cop in charge of the day-care case. Poor Jay has a problem in that he was born with an unusual power: his unshielded hands can inflict fatal burns.

This is useful when in combat against demons, but has forced him to keep his distance from romantic partners. Consequently, he's thirty years old and has never even been kissed! Soon he's trying to track down the twisty motive behind the demon attack on the day-care center, and he's negotiating his first relationship with vulnerable young Brian who may be in danger from unknown forces. Next of Kin has a lot going for it: humor, romance, and nonstop action.

Red Sands by Nicole Kimberling. Michael Gold is an academic who ekes out a careful living beneath the watchful eyes of the Parmas City authorities because he is a demon-human hybrid. He only has a touch of mind-reading ability as his demon-heritage. The 81-page novella unfolds in Michael's close third-person viewpoint.

His story opens when he's journeying back through an inter-dimensional portal after having finished some anthropological fieldwork with a demon tribe with which he shares some distant kinship ties. When he returns, a dead body shows up with him and he's confined as a murder suspect by a squad of hell-cops. It turns out that the dead man is his own cousin!

The investigating officer is the attractive hell-cop Detective Dion Argent. To Michael's embarrassment, the two of them recognize each other: they once shared a spontaneous sexual encounter at a conference.

Now they're paired up again as suspect and investigator in a tricky whodunit that keeps the reader guessing. Meanwhile, Detective Ben Moran, who is Argent's partner, makes a memorable appearance as the "bad cop" in an interrogation. Red Sands is a terrific novella, notable for its wealth of sharp, funny detail and its tight plotting.

Touching Sparks by Ginn Hale. This 82-page novella unfolds in the close, alternating third-person viewpoints of young photographer James Sparks and hell-cop Detective Ben Moran. James is working for Moran as a police informant, trying to uncover evidence of an illegal demon-fighting ring.

Moran is desperately attracted to the young vulnerable James, but tries to keep a professional distance. James is equally attracted to Moran, but is too intimidated to make a move.

However, when James barely escapes getting murdered, and then witnesses the abduction of Moran, it's up to him to infiltrate the criminal underworld of Parmas City and rescue his lover. Touching Sparks is a dark and absorbing thriller that packs a lot of plot into its short length.

Here at Obsidianbookshelf.com, I recommend Hell Cop, which offers strong plotting, a vivid paranormal setting, and numerous hot sex scenes. There is much here to enjoy. And if you think this is good, wait until you read the even better Hell Cop 2.
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