Review--Street Magic

Street Magic by Caitlin Kittredge is the first novel in a new series called the Black London series or novels as it says below the title on the book.

This series is different than her leading Nocturne City novels. We have more magical involvement here, which should be obvious, hence the title. ;)

Pete Caldecott is a police officer in good ol' London (yeah, she's a woman, Pete's short for Petunia and if you tell anyone her real name, she'll kill you), and her recent case involving a kidnapped child is more dangerous than she could imagine. With no leads whatsoever on the case and whether the girl is still alive, Pete receives an anonymous letter to meet with someone who might have information regarding the case. Taking a chance she goes to meet the source alone and finds that it is none other than Jack Winter, a man she thought for dead nearly 12 years ago.

Pete and Jack have a history together that Ms. Kittredge develops perfectly, there is definitely something strong brewing between these two. After the initial shock at seeing the man she thought for dead over a decade, Pete is shocked when he greets her with open hostility. He tells her when and where she can find the girl and leaves abruptly. There was no heart-warming reunion between the two.

Then the next night Pete finds the missing child right where Jack said she'd be, except the child has been blinded and traumatized. Pete wonders how Jack knew the girl would be there and sets out to find him and make him tell her. But when she eventually finds Jack, he is high on drugs and still greets her with hostility.

But that's not even close to the beginning of the novel nor the end of Pete and Jack. Soon two more children go missing and Pete enlists Jack's help, which took a lot of bartering and making Jack go cold turkey from his drug addiction, something that made him ultra mad.

Pete has always known that Jack has magical capabilities and figures that he used his abilities to find the first missing girl and wants him to use them again for the next two children. But with Jack so doped up she feels his powers won't be up to par and makes him give the drugs up.

As the novel progresses Pete learns more about the day when she was sixteen and Jack had "died". They had been in the graveyard trying to perform a ritual to summon a spirit so Jack could claim to a rival that he had power, real power. But things went wrong and then Jack died, or so Pete was led to believe.

There is definitely some evil mojo at work here that is behind the kidnapping of the children and blinding them. When a young girl with magical capabilities is the next victim Pete is more determined than ever to rescue her before she too is blinded and left just an empty shell. Pete and Jack must go further into the pits of London where the magical creatures lie, they will have to face possible enemies and allies. They will have to figure out who they can trust and who they cannot. But will they be able to trust one another and cooperate, for Jack still holds a grudge over Pete that she cannot figure out.

Soon Pete makes a shocking discovery about herself that Jack had always known and was perhaps the reason why he was always around her when she was younger. But trouble still lurks about the dark streets of London and if Pete doesn't learn what she needs to know, lives will be lost.