Book Review: Hotter Than Helltown (Preternatural Affairs #3) by S.M. Reine

Hotter Than Helltown is the third book in the Preternatural Affairs series by S.M. Reine. The audiobook version was read by Jeffrey Kafer. This series does have major plot points that build upon each other. I do not recommend skipping ahead. If this sounds book interesting to you, I would start at the beginning with Witch Hunt and then Silver Bullet. Knowing who everyone is, and the intricacies of their connections, is key to fully understanding and enjoying the read.

A killer is mutilating bodies in Los Angeles. Agent Cèsar Hawke is on the case, but the murderer is ahead of him. Wiping the memories of the dead so that the team's necrocognitive can't talk to them? Done. Preventing magical reconstruction of the crime scenes? Oh yeah. And the murders keep getting more brutal while Cèsar struggles to catch up. The best way to heat up a cold case is to go to Helltown, where Los Angeles's most powerful evil hides out, but even those demons are afraid of the murderer. Their fear adds one more question to the growing pile of unknowns. What kind of bad guy is too hot for Helltown?

Hotter Than Helltown is just as fast paced and gritty as the previous books in this series. I feel like we get less of a glimpse into some of the characters, but we get a much deeper look at Fritz and even Cèsar than we have previously. They both push themselves farther than they have had to in the past, but they have never been up against such high stakes before. The Vice President Janet, who already is less than fond of Fritz and Cèsar, is in the office as Cèsar studies up for the most important test of his life. Meanwhile a big bad that has Helltown afraid is killing and mutilating its unlucky victims. The odds against them are high, but so is Cèsar's determination to get out of this alive and with his memory intact. High action and some gore keep the tension high and attention riveted to the pages. Some of the aspects of this book might offend some religious readers, but I think most people that have read this far into the series can handle it.

Hotter Than Helltown is just what I have come to expect from this series. My only issue is that I just realized how far behind I am in this series, four more books to go, and how much I want to explore the author's other works at this point. This is only a problem because of the size of my to be read pile already.