Loading ...Black Heart Loa by Adrian Phoenix
Picking up just moments after the point its predecessor left off, the excellent Black Heart Loa, the second installment of the enthralling Hoodoo series, jumps quickly into the action without missing a beat. While Kallie, her best friend Belladonna, aunt Divinity and new acquaintance Gabrielle are mulling over the events and revelations from the end of book one, including the mysterious disappearance of Kallie’s cousin, Jackson, two masked home invaders break down the door, entering with shotguns, demanding to know where their stuff is. It seems the two men, Cash and Kerry (yes, Kallie has fun with this) want what Jackson took from them and they feel sure that Kallie must know the hiding place.
Within the space of a few minutes, the ladies manage to overpower the men and discover that someone buried Jackson alive, Divinity’s spell to put Cash to sleep backfires onto her, Kallie and Belladonna leave with Kerry to find Jackson, and Gabrielle’s summoning spell seeking the aid of Baron Samedi, the loa (spirit) of death and resurrection, in sparing Jackson’s life results in the Baron taking over Cash’s body. More paths converge when Layne, nomad and Vessel for spirits of the dead, gets in an accident and has two ghosts fighting over his body. With a hurricane heading for Louisiana, the protective wards turning into magnets for the storm, Kallie begins to wonder if the magic misfires are somehow due to the loa she carries inside of her in place of her soul.
Phoenix expends as much energy on exploring the emotional and psychological underpinnings of her characters as she does on the stunning, tactile imagery that comprises the worlds she creates. Kallie seeks to make sense of the flashes of memory that seem to come from her loa, all the while realizing that she may in fact have to sacrifice herself in order to save those she cares about. One can even feel compassion for McKenna, Layne’s ex, who works rather hard to be unlikeable, due to the heartbreaking nature of her relationship with Layne: he cannot remember them being together, a memory loss that occurs from his role as a vessel. The sorrow of this predicament packs a powerful punch.
Deftly weaving multiple plot threads while shifting between scenes, Phoenix keeps the reader on their toes but never once loses them. The suspense never flags, and the events of the book feel as though they could indeed occur within the time span of a couple of days. If you have not yet paid a visit to Bayou Cypres Noir and its environs, you are strongly urged to do so. This fabulous series with its fantastical setting and characters lures the reader in and casts a spell to hold them there. This reviewer can hardly wait to see what comes next for Kallie and crew.
Book Stats:
- Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
- Publisher: Pocket; Original edition (June 28, 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1439167923
- ISBN-13: 978-1439167922
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Books in the the Hoodoo series in the order they should be read:
Black Dust Mambo
Black Heart Loa
I have this book and have not read it yet!!