Embers by Laura Bickle
(BCC)
Truth burns.
Unemployment, despair, anger--visible and invisible unrest feed the undercurrent of Detroit's unease. A city increasingly invaded by phantoms now faces a malevolent force that further stokes fear and chaos throughout the city.
Anya Kalinczyk spends her days as an arson investigator with the Detroit Fire Department, and her nights pursuing malicious spirits with a team of eccentric ghost hunters. Anya--who is the rarest type of psychic medium, a Lantern--suspects a supernatural arsonist is setting blazes to summon a fiery ancient entity that will leave the city in cinders. By Devil's Night, the spell will be complete, unless Anya--with the help of her salamander familiar and the paranormal investigating team --can stop it.
Anya's accustomed to danger and believes herself inured to loneliness and loss. But this time she's risking everything: her city, her soul, and a man who sees and accepts her for everything she is. Keeping all three safe will be the biggest challenge she's ever faced.
* This review is done from a book Novel Reads received from the publisher.
Anya Kalinczyk, as the BCC says is a Fire Investigator by day and spends her nights for DAGR, the Detroit Area Ghost Researchers. Lately, Anya's been trying to figure out who has been starting several fires around town and leaving no clues behind. When DAGR calls her in on a particularly bad haunting. The group generally only calls Anya when they have to choosing to reserve her for the cases that are simply to hard for them to handle themselves. You see, Anya is a Lantern. A very rare type of medium that can devour ghosts. It's hard on Anya to do this not just physically but emotionally, as well so she is a last resort. When Anya finally traps the spirit and gets ready to devour her, the ghost whispers, "Sirrush is coming."
Anya knows little of Sirrush, just that he was once revered as a god of fire but after this experience with the ghost, who turns out to be that of a young girl, the name Sirrush and the fact that he is coming seems to be just about all the spirits can talk about. What's worse, is it seems the fires could in fact be related to Sirrush and his return. What's more, it would seem that perhaps Anya isn't the only Lantern out there--she just be the only Lantern out there with the desire to stop Sirrush from rising.
Embers takes the reader on a fast paced, page turning adventure, as Anya, Sparky, and DAGR race to save Detroit--and Anya herself--from demons and ancient gods. Bickle has written a fantastically believable world that a reader can get lost in. Embers, is hands down, bar none, the best Urban Fantasy written by a debut author, hell, written by anyone, that I have read in a very long time. I look forward to reading more about Anya and Sparky and the mishmash of others that complete DAGR in Bickle's next release Sparks.
Take Care
