Books like Dark Descendant — picked by fans

I read this book after a long, dull period when I couldn’t seem to find anything to read that sparked my interest. Trail of Lightning picked me up, whirled me around, and made me fall head-over-heels in love with speculative fiction again.

Set in a bleak, post-apocalyptic world, it’s brutal and gripping, but where there should only be sadness and despair, there are unexpected moments of un-looked-for kindness. This isn’t a light read, and it isn’t exactly happy—but there’s a beautiful optimism underlying the bleakness, that after all, even in the worst of circumstances and at the worst of times, people can be kind. 

What I found unique about Deal with the Devil was that it was written by two authors who specialize in writing steamy romance books, who, together, go by the pen name Kit Rocha. Genetically and cybernetically enhanced humans has always been one of my favorite sci-fi concepts. This book has two teams of enhanced humans. There is Nina and her all-female crew, who are the book’s main characters, and there is Knox and his all-male crew. I enjoyed learning about the different abilities and troubled pasts of these characters. And with the setting being in a dystopian environment, another concept I enjoy, coupled with the book having all the spiciness and sensuality you'd usually find in an urban fantasy novel, this sci-fi story was intriguing. I believe it will be a winner for adult male and female readers.

High school is hard enough to survive. Adding teleportation makes it freakin’ impossible. Our hero, Cole, is an adorable nerd about to finish his senior year of high school when he suddenly develops the talent of teleportation (including one adventure when he accidentally zaps himself into his locker). Mysterious men in black start showing up wherever he is and Cole needs to figure out what he’s doing fast if he wants to escape. Luckily, his latest crush, Malik, is proving to be a steadfast friend and maybe a little more. Nathan has an amazing talent for bringing his characters to life and creates some of the sweetest love stories I’ve ever read. He’s a fellow comic-book fan and fans of the X-Men and Avengers will love his stories.

A whole agency of supernaturally gifted investigators… oh, yes, please! This story focuses on Aidan, who is able to read people and objects through touch. He’s been disgraced after failing to find a missing child and has come to Savannah to nurse his wounds. The heroine, Lexie, is a reporter and believes a serial killer is hunting in their city, but no one believes her. She enlists Aidan’s reluctant help and the two of them develop a romance as they search for clues. This story has adventure, romance, psychic powers, and a ghost that is used for reconnaissance. It’s got everything! The characters’ powers are solidly researched and feel like they could be possible and the suspense plot will take your breath away.

I don’t usually read paranormal/ghost mysteries, but this one defies genre. It is the initial installment in Jones’ Charley Davidson series and starts off with a major twist near the beginning that sets the tone for the entire series. 

Then there’s a big one at the end, and then an even bigger one after that. I’m a sucker for fast-paced, funny thrillers if they’re well done. And this is definitely well done.

U.K. author Stephen Leather has written so many books and in a variety of genres. His supernatural Detective Jack Nightingale series is of interest to me here. In Nightfall and subsequent Jack Nightingale novels, our hero is struggling against demonic forces brought into his orbit courtesy of his now-dead father. Unusual, certainly. Many readers, I suspect, enjoy the injection of a new element into the now-crowded police procedural genre. 

Supernatural Thrillers: Every Dead Thing by John Connolly is the first novel in Connolly’s Charlie Parker series (it contains Parker’s origin story). If you like your thrillers with a blood-curdling slice of the supernatural, run, don’t walk, to the nearest bookstore and pick up this novel. Haunted by his dead wife and daughter, Parker is an ex-cop turned private detective. And the cases Parker works—Good Lord!—best sleep with the lights on. Though John Connolly’s an Irish lad, his Parker novels take place along the East Coast (Parker lives in Portland, Maine). You’ll realize how literary and poetic Connolly’s prose is as the hairs on the back of your neck begin to rise and you refuse to investigate that sound you just heard coming from the basement.

In this noir story with a philosophical bent, Miles has been hired to track the reincarnation of a demonic guardian by a Tibetan monk on the eve of a visit of the Dali Lama to New York, and Miles finds himself over his head as an apparent gang war erupts in Chinatown, killings that some on the force think he had a role in. He must avoid capture by the cops so that he can find the killer and the demon, if they are not the same, and avoid becoming the demon's next victim.

I loved the weaving of Tibetan myth into a story of gang warfare and revenge.

What attracts me to the series is the relationship between the main character, Cormoran Strike and his sundry accomplices, especially his one-time secretary and now partner, Robin Ellacott.

A wonderful aspect of book four in the series is that we find out more about what motivates Robin to continue taking on dangerous tasks. The parallel storyline of her fraught relationship with her new husband adds to the tension as she, Strike, and their various collaborators work furiously to unmask a killer.

Recommended if you enjoy character-driven series.

Heather G. Harris reimagines fae creatures of all kinds in her Other Realm series. Unflappable Jinx finds herself plunged into a world she didn’t even know existed where political machinations between wizards, dragons, vampires, and werewolves cause deadly consequences. The background world building in Glimmer of the Other is subtle and yet robust. Jinx is a hero that I can truly root for, caught up in a slow-burn romance that was just right. And she has a hellhound for a pet. Who doesn’t love a wickedly cute hellhound?