I really do like Lilith Saintcrows writing. This is the third series written by her that I’ve read so far and each has been a unique and enjoyable world.

Dante Valentine is the usual kick-arse urban fantasy heroine. Had a pretty crappy childhood, was beaten and abused (but we don’t get the gory details – thank you Ms Saintcrow!) and overcame odds to grow up to be a bitter, twisted, streetwise, smart-mouthed gun toting... I’m running out of adjectives, but you get the idea.

One thing that quite surprised me was the demon Japhrimel. This is a character that we’re introduced to very early on. Heck, he’s the first character we’re introduced to. But the way he’s written is very underdeveloped, until I was about near the end and suddenly discovered had slowly been developing in a very understated way all along and I was actually quite enamoured with him.

However, I really wish there had been a futuristic jargon guide. The only area that I find Ms Saintcrow on sometimes falls down in is the world building. It just takes a little while to get into the worlds that she creates and part of that in Working for the Devil is the excess information that really doesn’t add value, but does cause lots of confusion if you pay too much attention. I mean, what does this mean: “... noticed one had a hot magtag; evidently some kid had jacked it. I clucked out through my teeth. Kids stealing slicboards, what next? Then again, since hovers had palmlocks and bodyscans built in standard now a slic was all a kid could steal.” Yes, I get the basic gist, but really, why bother?!

Although I find the world overload mildly irksome and a little distracting, these are also quite easy to ignore.

There were other aspects of this story I found a little confusing and had that feeling I’d missed a critical sentence a couple of times. I really had to re-read the Devils bit at the end a couple of times to work out what on earth had just happened [Mild spoiler alert: highlight to read]...
One minute we’re saving the kid and the Devils not going near her, then we’re fighting the Devil. Then suddenly the kid is going off with the Devil...
It all made sense if you kept reading, but it certainly wasn’t clear at the time and just came across as a bit of a WTF moment

One person I really want to know more about is Doreen. We get little tid-bits of information about her throughout the story. I really like her from what I know of her, and I want to know more!  If I ever get the chance to interview Ms Saintcrow, I do hope I remember to ask if there is a story about Dante and Doreen. I am rather hoping that there is a neat short story that has the mission where they met.  She just sounds really lovely.

Overall, if you’ve read and enjoyed books by Lilith Saintcrow then this will be an unsurprisingly enjoyable read.

There aren’t too many real shocks, but there is the odd tear-jerker, some great sniggers and some really wonderful story telling.