Imagine a living vampire, a pixy, an elf and a witch with demonic connections on a road trip. Now, imagine the elf is on a quest, the pixy is mourning his wife, the vampire gets aroused and hungry by strong emotions and scents mingled with her own, and the witch has to get cross-country for her hearing to defend her use of black magic for non-evil motives. Oh, yeah...and there's a hit out on the witch and the elf. And demons. And demon politics.

That's pretty much PALE DEMON: an awesome, whirlwind, old- fashioned road trip, something extremely difficult to write well, and this latest installment of The Hollows series succeeds. This is a series that should be read from the start to appreciate the nuances of the relationships of PALE DEMON, but it is all the more effective when read that way. Trust issues, family issues, mythological issues and personal issues abound, but the interplay and emotional drama in no way detracts from the fun and intricacy of the novel.