Demon Bound by Caitlin Kittredge

Honestly, Pete does look like Essie Davis in Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. And I know the cover should be a visual representation for Jack Winter who was the narrator of the story but while I was reading him. I was imagining him to be a mix of…

and

with British accents…. mmmm….

Yes, you got me, I watch CW because of these two. Sigh… bless my heart, they’re gorgeous. Except Jensen Ackles married to someone so I had to reserve all my blessed adoration toward the gorgeous gorgeous….

……… …. brain freeze…. …. ….

Actually, Ian Somerhalder fit Jack Winter’s characteristics more than Dean Winchester. I like Ian in Lost (albeit briefly) but I do feel his acting strength was for intense characters like him as a cold-hearted assassin in The Tournament and Damon on a bad day in The Vampire Diaries. Ian might not be all like that but he got his acting chops right.

In the last book, Jack Winter came back from the dead to help Petunia “Pete” Caldecott in a case of missing children and hunt sorcerers that was under the command of a powerful sorcerer-ghost that the previous 16-years old Pete had bear witness him killing Jack. After banishing the ghost with her innate powers as a weir, Pete quit being a cop and move in with Jack and started a business of exorcising ghost and medium for the living to support themselves. A year later, unbeknownst of her, Jack hadn’t really told her that he did died on that day but was brought back to life after making a deal with a demon. With the 13th anniversary of the summoning looming around, Jack had to face the consequences in which he had to surrender for his soul or Pete’s life which will be in a precarious situation.

In the last book, Jack Winter was a character that was an intriguing on its own. He carried the weight of the dead between his shoulders and drown himself with heroin to completely avoid seeing dead people; crowding him and sucking the life out of him. With Pete back into his life, he found peace and ability to control his talent enough to be useful. With the book completely being narrated by him, Jack’s characterization was enhanced while Pete became the observer or a side character in the story. Inside the mind of the crow-mage, we found Jack to be layered with lies and half truths, constantly being tempted by the need for his drugs, his constant moody and the sarcasm to hide the constant anxiety inside him. His fond feelings for Pete that had became obvious enough that his enemies uses the knowledge to manipulate him. Basically, Jack is a wreck in every way and boy, he does knows it.

The story is set quite linearly and in a way affected by Jack’s decisions in everything. In the beginning, he became a mentor for Pete who was trying to control her talent while acting as a guidance counsellor for Jack in every step of the way. Curiously enough, Jack sees her as a lighter shade of everything in his dark world. He often referred to her as an innocent and tried to protect her in every way even though its clearly a bad idea.

The dialogues were a bit confusing since the story was written using American English but the dialogues are British English with slangs and infectious cursing that even I rarely online-curse actually blasted f-words like no tomorrow. So for some people who had difficulties in understand the sarcasm, I do recommend watching BBCs shows and educate yourselves. The setting held noir overtones in mind and the constant anticipation of doom that was always penetrated through the psyche of the narrator (Jack) made the story enjoyable to psychological mystery fans. In every way, Jack held desperation as an ace in his hand to plunge head first through every desperate encounter that he had. Often times, he was on the verge of breakdown with his only thought was Pete’s well being as his salvation. Honestly, Jake’s a romantic. And boy he took 400 pages to notice it. Most of the time, Jack had became enraptured with the idea of saving her from a certain darkness but although he tried to fight his way from his past, he couldn’t escape death.

Plot-wise, the book was engaging to the last end of the page albeit it does move a bit slow. The dialogues are heavy with profanities and at times, dark humour. Kitteredge focused Jake’s story and the world building in the book that some may feel dissatisfied about the progression but frankly it does provide the baseline to the next novel.

As for Dean Winchester cameo… well lets just say, if you remember Season 3 and 4 of Supernatural, you’ll understand. Sigh.. I love old Dean.