A Devil in the Details

Starred review from May 31, 2010
This crackling series launch hits the trifecta of strong story, characters, and prose. Jesse James Dawson is a retail clerk, a samurai, a redneck brawler, a good husband and father, and a Champion: a demon slayer who fights to free repentant souls from hastily entered contracts. What he isn't is good with magic, though his wife, Mira, can back him up with some spell casting. While attempting to retrieve the soul of a World Series– winning pitcher, Jesse is distracted by two other Champions disappearing, a stalker trying to run him off the road, and an annoying pest of a demon determined to claim him. Stewart's wisecracking hero is smart and thoroughly 3-D. The tight terse style honors but doesn't copy Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden books, and urban fantasy fans looking for something new will happily devour Stewart's debut.