Review--Dark Time by Dakota Banks (Book 9 in Reading Challenge)

THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO, SHE SOLD HER SOUL TO A DEMON. NOW SHE WANTS IT BACK.

For centuries, the woman calling herself Maliha Crayne has lived a second life--as an assassin for the malevolent creature who owns her soul. A haunted killer with the blood of countless victims on her hands, she has finally discovered a way to nullify the demonic pact that chains her: If she saves a life for every one she has taken, she will be free.

But if she fails, her punishments will be unspeakable, unendurable...and neverending.

Dakota Banks' Dark Time was a very interesting read. It starts off in the beginning when Maliha--known as Susannah at the time and how she came to be working for the demon. It's told in third person so it's not like the events happened in the past but we see it from the beginning. Time moves forward a little and we see bits of Susannah's life as a demon's assassin and then finally she realizes she doesn't want to do this anymore. She doesn't want to be a demon's assassin, so she makes a new deal with the demon to save lives instead of killing them to balance out her debt.

She was once ageless, an Ageless one, and now with each life she saves she will grow a little older. Maybe a day, maybe 2 months, maybe a year. It's unpredictable, but if she doesn't complete her end of the bargain before her death, then she will be the demon's plaything for a very long time.

I found it interesting that at times Maliha still had to do unsavory things to save lives. She sometimes had to kill bad guys, which was a little odd, but since these characters were evil humans there was no mark against her.

The story line was complicated at first since we have to start from when she was an assassin, but it moves rather quickly along as she tries to right the wrongs of the deaths of two computer guys. It gets blown way out of proportion with technology companies and other unsavory characters.

There was a lot to it that I can't even begin to explain, but as you read along it all makes sense as Maliha has a mystery to solve of sorts. And another one that will likely continue on through the next books involving the demon she made her deal with.

There is also a bit of romance in the book, but not much. A lot of tension between the characters.

There wasn't a whole of supernatural aspects to the book other than the demon portions and possibly a few threads here and there if you want to call these "unsaid" events supernatural. Basically no vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, etc. But still a very enjoyable read. There was even a bit of a cliffhanger that leaves you wondering about a certain character, not Maliha, but a secondary one.

With that I have to say I will definitely be reading the second book Sacrifice when I get the chance! Overall I give the book 4/5 stars! Another GREAT read! And even by a local author!!

This was my 9th book in the September Spectacular Reading Challenge. Looks like I might go over my double the number of books amount! Awesome!