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The Summoned (Angel)

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Just in time to cure Buffy-verse withdrawal, a new Angel story has arrived. Cameron Dokey, who is a prolific author with several Buffy tales, has managed to find another twist on Angel's find demon/kill demon plot line. This time Doyle gets a staring, if somewhat embarrassing, part and we find that Angel's half demon assistant is much more than the frequent victim of Cordelia's acid tongue.

Doyle has a major vision in the middle of his nightly beer run. One that starts out inside the head of a woman who is being burnt to a crisp and ends up with an image of a mysterious spinning coin. Badly shaken up, he is aided by Terri Miller a young woman who is trying to live in Los Angeles. In short order Doyle has offended Terri and run out trying to find Angel. Upset by Doyle and her own poor luck Terri leaves the store to encounter Andy, a young man who seems to have everything figured out. No surprise, Andy offers to help Terri out, getting the major subplot underway.

When Doyle reaches Angel, they are puzzled by the parameters of a vision that offers so little help. They already know they have a problem with something that likes to burn people up, since the police are desperately trying to find a serial killer that everyone is calling the Krispy Kritter. But when they get to the site of that night's Kritter killing they find no new evidence. While Detective Kate Lockley is not assigned to this case, Angel notices that she is haunting the scene.

Kate is involved because a close friend, Dierdre Arensen, has lost her father to the Kritter. Dierdre is so frustrated with the LAPD's lack of progress that Kate finally decides to take the psychologist to see Angel. In the meantime Terri is inducted in the Illuminati, moves in next to Cordelia and literally drops one of the mysterious coins in Cordelia's lap. By the time Dierdre is explaining to Angel that she believes her father was killed by a cult, he already knows that he is chasing Feutoch, a demon who makes a practice of offering to fulfill wishes in return for souls to toast. The coin is the mark whereby the demon finds his victims. Their only hope for information is Terri, who Doyle is assigned to follow and befriend. This turns out to be an assignment that is seriously beyond Doyle's somewhat primitive social skills.

The rest of the novel is predictable, if well told. The painfully inept Doyle manages to avoid being totally comic, and the overall result is entertaining. Dokey has a somewhat hardboiled style which is a bit alarming at first, but then becomes quite refreshing. I have to confess that I am getting a bit tired of 'early' Angel novels. It is getting harder and harder to accept stories that are years behind the show. It would be nice if Twentieth Century Fox would open up a little bit and allow the stories to be more contemporary. Otherwise we are stuck with well-written, new old fiction. Which eventually wears thin.

A fire demon starts a cult to do his dirty work for him, he gives people what they want, but forces them to choose a mark for him to take the life of.

Doyle literally runs into a girl that is involved, and a vision has shown him more. A friend of Detective Kate Lockely is trying on the investigation thing to hide her involvement.

Fun scene at the end, with Angel Investigations and a bunch of fire extinguishers directed demonside : "Now I know what a Ghostbuster feels like," Cordelia said.

this book is really good .it explains what l.a. is like to people who have never been there. it tellls you to not get in a cult or something you don't know about very well.

The story was interesting, eventhough I thought the character "Angel" was written a little different than usual. He was kind of indifferent towards Doyle and Cordelia, close to being rude. That's not the "Angel" I've come to know. Great novel for fans of "Doyle". Not the best of the novels I've read so far, but still interesting enough to hold your attention, especially if you're a fan of the TV show.