Helpful Score: 1
The first three installments ("Dog Days", "New Tricks", and "Unleashed") gave readers a good romp through Mason's magical world: exhibits of his improvisation powers and his canine Ifrit Louie's talents in action; the light and dark practitioners living discreetly among mostly unsuspecting ordinaries; the code of conduct they try to live by; the enforcers who seek to stamp out criminal practitioner behaviors and mentor up and coming practitioners to instill a sense of responsibility in them; healers and psychics; an assortment of good and evil magical creatures; warding, aversion, attraction, and shielding spells; channeling and illusions; time, space, and energy dislocations, etc.
In this fourth installment, Levitt ups the ante and raises the stakes to their highest level yet. A powerful, wealthy, and ambitious dark arts practitioner named Jessica proposes to pay Mason handsomely if he agrees to work for her to find a young dark arts practitioner named Jackie who's stolen something from her. Mason is tempted because he needs the money, but he distrusts dark arts practitioners. After strategizing with mentor Eli and Chief San Francisco Enforcer Victor, Mason agrees to take the job and pretends to cooperate with Jessica until he figures out Jessica's real motives.
Mindful that Jessica or her six-foot long cobra Ifrit could kill him if he displeases Jessica, such as discovering him to be a spy, Mason treads carefully. Informed that Jackie plays the keyboard for a living, Mason sets up a sting with the help of a practitioner friend, asking this friend to pretend that she's looking for a keyboardist to play in her band.
Jackie doesn't get fooled, however. Though she may be young, she's smart and very talented when it comes to magic, and she has allies in San Francisco who will tell Mason half truths to throw him off course. One of these allies, Malcolm, is especially interesting because Jackie seems to need him to carry out a grandiose plan involving the use of ancient magic spells that they have limited experience with. Unfortunately, the grandiose plan could go terribly awry, and the devastating consequences could be massive in scale, and therefore, they need to be stopped.
In this fourth installment, Levitt ups the ante and raises the stakes to their highest level yet. A powerful, wealthy, and ambitious dark arts practitioner named Jessica proposes to pay Mason handsomely if he agrees to work for her to find a young dark arts practitioner named Jackie who's stolen something from her. Mason is tempted because he needs the money, but he distrusts dark arts practitioners. After strategizing with mentor Eli and Chief San Francisco Enforcer Victor, Mason agrees to take the job and pretends to cooperate with Jessica until he figures out Jessica's real motives.
Mindful that Jessica or her six-foot long cobra Ifrit could kill him if he displeases Jessica, such as discovering him to be a spy, Mason treads carefully. Informed that Jackie plays the keyboard for a living, Mason sets up a sting with the help of a practitioner friend, asking this friend to pretend that she's looking for a keyboardist to play in her band.
Jackie doesn't get fooled, however. Though she may be young, she's smart and very talented when it comes to magic, and she has allies in San Francisco who will tell Mason half truths to throw him off course. One of these allies, Malcolm, is especially interesting because Jackie seems to need him to carry out a grandiose plan involving the use of ancient magic spells that they have limited experience with. Unfortunately, the grandiose plan could go terribly awry, and the devastating consequences could be massive in scale, and therefore, they need to be stopped.
This fourth installment of the series is as entertaining, witty and exciting as the others in the series, but it sure packs a wallop on the ending with an urgent need to read the next (which I hope there will be)!
