Cat’s Claw

By Amber Benson
Ace, $7.99, 311 pages

Being Death’s daughter isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Calliope Reaper-Jones barely balances a hectic “regular” life with her renewed familial responsibilities. (Dealing with the supernatural is hell on new outfits.)

Strange people (and creatures) are visiting her apartment uninvited. The guy who died saving her last time might still be alive. And now Cerberus, the three-headed hound from Hell, wants Calliope to honor her debt to him. All she has to do is track down a soul who has been missing for a few thousand years. In under twenty-four hours.

Cat’s Claw is great fun, with different mythologies intertwined like spaghetti noodles in a rich bundle of characterization. The story is fast-paced and enjoyable, happy to twist and turn, leaving the reader as pleasantly overwhelmed as Calliope herself.

I admit, the chick lit-speak grated on my nerves a little at first, but Calliope’s detailed and colorful world more than made up for it. Once the plot was rolling, the story flowed like fine wine, dropping in new history and exposition on previous events with ease. Benson is quickly solidifying her rightful place on the bookshelves, and her next effort will be more than welcome.

Reviewed by Glenn Dallas