Sixteen-year-old Nick and his brother, Alan, are always on the run from the deadly magicians who use demons to work their magic. Alan is Nick's partner in demon slaying and the only person he trusts. So things get very scary when Nick begins to suspect that everything Alan has told him about their past is a complete lie. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Gr 9 Up-In this riveting debut novel, 16-year-old Nick and his older brother, Alan, are accustomed to life on the run. Since their father was murdered, the boys have been forced to slay demons set on them by magicians seeking the powerful charm stolen by the boys' mother. Nick is furious when Alan receives a "first-tier" demon mark while saving a neighborhood boy. While seeking to remove it, Nick begins to suspect that his brother is lying to him about the reason for the magicians' attempts to kill them and about why their mother screams whenever Nick touches her. Fans of the Supernatural television series will be hooked from the novel's opening lines ("The pipe under the sink was leaking again. It wouldn't have been so bad, except that Nick kept his favorite sword under the sink."). Even teens who don't consider themselves genre buffs will appreciate the solid writing, fast-paced plot, and sense of authenticity that Brennan gives to the shadowy world between ordinary, modern-day London and the otherworld of demons and magicians. Though Nick and Alan's story is mostly resolved with Nick discovering the truth behind his father's death and his mother's fear of him, readers will no doubt clamor for the next book in this planned urban fantasy trilogy.-Leah J. Sparks, formerly at Bowie Public Library, MD Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

What if the bad-boy hunk in your class was actually a sword-wielding demon slayer? That's the enticing scenario offered up in Brennan's debut, and although the results are periodically workmanlike, they will satisfy the legions currently clamoring for this brand of dark fantasy. Nick (the aforementioned hunk) lives with his empty-shell mother and older brother Alan, but they're constantly on the move as they hunt and are hunted by evil magicians and their conjured demons. Their brutal routine is interrupted by the arrival of two teen siblings in need of help, one of whom has been marked by a demon for certain death and the other of whom fosters a growing desire for one of the brothers. Though unique, the mythology has some holes and feels needlessly convoluted. That said, Brennan excels when she dwells upon her characters' more human emotions (desire, loneliness, loyalty), and hits her stride in the final stretch, creating several scenes of unexpected horror and piling on some truly surprising twists. Stick with it, and you'll be glad you did.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2009 Booklist From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.