Hell Fire-Ann Aguirre

Hell Fire
Ann Aguirre
Roc, Apr 2010, $6.99
ISBN: 9780451463241

Don’t look for Kilmer, Georgia on a map or even waste your time trying GPS; don’t bother with Google as nothing is written on and off the net about Kilmer. To psychics the town appears to be a dark hole or a bleak unmentionable spot in the ether.

Now after years away Corine Solomon is coming home to Kilmer to learn why a dozen people killed her mother. Accompanying Corine on her quest is her ex-boyfriend Chance who wants a second chance with her, and suspended Texas police officer Jesse who wants a closer relationship with her. From the moment the trio enter the town, they feel engulfed by a miasma of evil that gives the place a distorted look of a mid twentieth century sitcom. The threesome share in common psychic gifts, but each is different. A handler, Corine’s is psychometry, who everyone covets. She uses her touch skill to learn the twelve is eradicating systematically those with the gift; next on their methodical hit list is Corine. She sees in a vision they killed her mom who died in her arms but not before her dying mother created a spell to transfer her power to Corine, who does not plan to become the next sacrificial lamb of the dirty dozen.

After the horrific events in Texas that the trio triumphed over (see Blue Diablo), they plunge into another supernatural encounter that involves using psychic skills to the max or end up dying. The characters come across as believable, especially the lead threesome, the town and its residents. This makes for an exciting time in Georgia as the enthralled audience will wonder whether even Charlie Daniels can fiddle his way out of this Hell Fire. Ann Aguirre is an author to watch for becuse in years to come she will be one of the best second generation urban fantasists.

Harriet Klausner