ARC Review: Hell Fire by Ann Aguirre

Hell Fire
Corine Solomon #2

As a handler, Corine Solomon can touch any object and know its history. It's too bad she can't seem to forget her own. With her ex-boyfriend Chance in tow-lending his own supernatural brand of luck-Corine journeys back home to Kilmer, Georgia, in order to discover the truth behind her mother's death and the origins of "gift".

But while trying to uncover the secrets in her past, Corine and Chance find that something is rotten in the state of Georgia. Inside Kilmer's borders there are signs of a dark curse affecting the town and all its residents-and it can only be satisfied with death...


At the start of this book we have Corine and Chance on their way to Kilmer to find out what happened to Corine's mother. When they arrive, they notice that it seems like nothing has changed in the little town, and that is very weird ( they don't even have ATM machines!). Soon they discover that Chance's "luck" doesn't work there, and neither do cell phones or internet. It looks like they are stuck in town without any help from the outside.

When someone tries to kill Corine and the sheriff arrests Chance for the strange death of the library caretaker, it seems like things couldn't get worse but then Jesse Saldana comes into town to try to help them. What is the secret the town is keeping? And are they willing to risk their lives to find out?

I found this book a little slow and sometimes I wished the mystery could advance faster. The relationship between Corine and Chance was a big plot point, but I didn't like how Corine ended up playing with both Chance and Jesse. I know she had to choose, but I would have prefered if she had done it without yanking the chains of both of them. Also, I didn't like how she didn't take into consideration Chance's feelings. It seemed like only hers mattered.
I loved Shannon, the new character that was introduced in this book. Also loved Butch, the little chihuahua, he's very funny and I liked his danger detector abilities.

In short, this novel felt like a transition book to me. It ties up looses ends but I didn't feel like it made the series go forward. I liked Blue Diablo better, and I can't wait to see if in Shady Lady we finally get to know what happened to Montoya and what kind of retribution he's seeking.



Rating: 1/2