The Thirteenth-L.A. Banks

The Thirteenth
L.A. Banks
St. Martin’s, Feb 2009, $14.95
ISBN: 0312368763

The fourth seal has been broken releasing the pale horse. What American cities are attacked the powers that be fear terrorists have struck again but it is really demons and vamps that Lucifer brought to the surface to kill as many mortals as possible. The media, controlled by Hell’s forces make the Neterus Damali and Carlos and her Guardians out to be terrorists; they are on the run so the Light brought them to Bermuda. They need to return to the States and get the rest of their crew and they meet Montley Sinclair who wants in on the battle and gives them a ride on his yacht.

Lucifer and Lilith are waiting for the Anti-Christ to finish gestating; plague, famine and pestilence are everywhere. Chaos rules as order has broken down. Saints and martyrs help the Neteru and the Guardians when the fifth seal is broken. The team rushes to Jerusalem to find out the home of the chosen THE THIRTEENTH who will free the bound fallen angels in the Euphrates and will lead a horde of two hundred million warriors to kill off much of humanity. Damali and Carlos need the name and the weapon that can defeat him, but with Israel on dead alert and Hell’s minion looking for them, they have little chance of surviving the skirmishes.

The Neteru-Guardian team is struggling with the End of Days yet are willing to die to fight the evil Dark that seems overwhelmingly on the verge of victory. Carlos has evolved over the course of the thirteen books from a mob boss to the chairman of Hell’s Board o a Netura who worships the Light. He has come a long way from the vice king to a hero worthy of Damali. The final excellent tale in this great saga is an exciting and evocative urban fantasy.

Harriet Klausner