Review - Find the Jinn by Maz Maddox

Dallas Wilde is a paid assassin, and fish trainer. He takes on many dirty jobs, like tracking down and killing a necromancer, which is what he's doing when we first meet him. That job does not end as successfully as Dallas thinks, and his next assignment from a wealthy succubus proves to be a challenge. To make matters worse, Dallas seems to have inherited a vampire thrall that insists on being his bodyguard.

“Find the Jinn” is set in an otherwise contemporary fantasy world where demons such as incubi, succubi, and jinns are real, as is their magic. With minimal effort, the author manages to paint a convincing picture of a modern big city with gleaming towers housing the very rich and seedier neighborhoods where the poorer folk live and play.

Dallas is definitely a complex character, and this first book of a series only scratches the surface of his make-up. We get just a few glimpses of possible childhood trauma that set him on the path of hunting down people using dark magic. He hides it all under an impish, bad-boy persona that doesn't seem to fool anyone. Dallas is surely a modern hero in the mold of those who technically operate on the ‘wrong’ side of the law, like Han Solo.

“Complicated” doesn't even begin to describe Dallas' love life. He seems game for sex with just about any male, human or demon, but there's definitely a special feeling for his sometimes-employer, Sias. Dallas willingly submits to the succubus' charms and, it seems, would do whatever the wealthy demon asks. The relationship with his newly acquired vampire thrall Zane is something completely different altogether. Neither of the two is thrilled to be magically tied together, and they seem to delight in irritating each other, but you sense that there might be something more between the two eventually.

This first book of a new series is relatively self-contained but leaves enough minor loose ends and questions about Dallas to leave plenty of room for later books.

“Find the Jinn” is available from Amazon.