Sacrificial Magic

Downside Ghosts, Book 4

By: Stacia Kane

Narrated by: Bahni Turpin

Reading, writing, and raising the dead.

When Chess Putnam is ordered by an infamous crime boss—who also happens to be her drug dealer—to use her powers as a witch to solve a grisly murder involving dark magic, she knows she must rise to the challenge. Adding to the intensity, her boyfriend, Terrible, doesn’t trust her, and Lex, the son of a rival crime lord, is trying to reignite the old sparks between them.

Plus, there’s the little matter of Chess’ real job as a ghost hunter for the Church of Real Truth. She’s investigating reports of a haunting at a school in the heart of Downside, where someone seems to be taking a crash course in summoning the dead—and if Chess doesn’t watch her back, she may soon be joining their ranks.

As Chess is drawn into a shadowy world of twisted secrets and dark violence, it soon becomes clear that she’s not going to emerge from its depths without making the ultimate sacrifice.

Stacia Kane has been a phone psychic, a customer-service representative, a bartender, and a movie-theater usher, and she thinks that writing is more fun than all of them combined. She wears a lot of black, still makes great cocktails, likes to play music loud in the car, and thinks Die Hard is one of the greatest movies ever made. She believes in dragons and the divine right of kings and is a fervent Ricardian. She lives in Devon, England.

©2012 Stacey Fackler (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Whether [the reader’s heart] is pounding in fear or breaking in sympathy, this book was satisfying on pretty much every level…. This is such an addictive, compelling series.” ( Urban Fantasy Book Reviews)

The struggle of addiction

Soo rooting for C. Loved the clean Church witch. Hope she gets there and keep her man.

Wonderful job...one SMALL note.

I enjoyed the story immensely. It's a fascinating character study of someone struggling to deal with the traumas of her past in a way that also keeps her life both complicated and affords her opportunities that seem to help her career, ironically.

I only have one thing that bothered me just a little bit, and only in that it would pull me out of the story at times: why would Beula (and other Chinese characters) have a Cantonese accent? The author didn't mention one, but there it is. I understand that differentiating character voices is a challenge, but assuming an Asian character is an immigrant or foreigner is...something that perhaps the narrator should reconsider in the future. Otherwise, she did a wonderful job, as always.

Amazing

I've been an urban fantasy reader since the genre began. Its now a way overcrowded space with a ton of mediocre work from which to choose. Finding something this well written is a rare thing. This series is some of the best urban fantasy available. This is not sweet paranormal romance. Its a gritty, risky life our main church witch character leads, balancing her contact with gangs, ghosts, guns and drugs. No Mary sue in sight here so if that's your shtick, look elsewhere. This series is the real deal. Our MC is troubled and addicted and has the consciousness of an addict. She is able to function in the changed world and her job, but her hard life has left her without any kind of interpersonal relationship skills whatsoever. But she knows she needs at least some people in her life and hearing her internal thoughts as she slowly and steadily broadens her world is worth the read in itself. Kudos to a highly gifted author who stands out in her field.

I was worried I wasn’t going to like this

The overall storyline was different. Chess frustrated me in almost every chapter! I didn’t see the tail end happening. Makes me anxious for the next book. If you love this series, don’t give up on this book. You’ll be glad you didn’t.

JUST MAGIC!

When you finished a 13+ hrs audiobook in 24 hrs, it can only mean one thing, " impossible to put down"
Bahni Turpin is awesome!! And paired with the amazing writing style of Stacia Kane, it's just absolute magic!
With some heart wrenching moments we get one more mystery solved, all while we get to ride inside the messed up little head of our unconventional, some times irritating, but always entertaining Chess Putnam.
Another terrific entry to this dark, somber yet exciting and always engrossing Urban Fantasy series.