Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom (Kate Connor, Demon Hunter) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "My name is Kate Connor and I used to be a Demon Hunter..." (more)
Key Phrases: cathedral archives, San Diablo, Lazarus Bones, Boo Bear (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

What would happen if Buffy the Vampire Slayer got married, moved to the suburbs and became a stay-at-home mom? She'd be a lot like Kate Connor, once a demon/vampire/zombie killer and now "a glorified chauffeur for drill-team practice and Gymboree play dates" in San Diablo, Calif., that's what. But in Kenner's sprightly, fast-paced ode to kick-ass housewives, Kate finds herself battling evil once again. First a demon tries to kill Kate while she's making rigatoni for an important dinner party that her sweet second husband, Stuart, has scheduled—at the last possible minute—to butter up potential allies in his run for county attorney. Kate dispatches the demon handily enough, but she learns that Goramesh, one of the terrible High Demons, has come to town looking for something. Where's he hiding and what does he want? Can she defeat him without exposing her past to Stuart—and without putting two-year-old Timmy in day care? Though Kenner starts off her story by dropping so many brand names the book reads like a how-to manual for product placement, she settles down to the action soon enough, and readers will find spunky Kate hard not to root for in spheres both domestic and demonic. Film rights sold to 1942 Pictures and Warner Brothers. (July)
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Product Description

Lots of women put their careers aside once the kids come along. Kate Connor, for instance, hasn't hunted a demon in ages.

That must be why she missed the one wandering through the pet food aisle of the San Diablo Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, he managed to catch her attention an hour later-when he crashed into the Connor house, intent on killing her.

Now Kate has to clean up the mess in her kitchen, dispose of a dead demon, and pull together a dinner party that will get her husband elected to County Attorney-all without arousing her family's suspicion. Worse yet, it seems the dead demon didn't come alone...

It's time for Kate Connor to go back to work.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Trade (June 27, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425202526
• ISBN-13: 978-0425202524
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #691,159 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This is item 1 in The Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Buffy Got Married, July 5, 2005

By	Lisa J. Steele (Bolton, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Carpe Demon is an enjoyable read. The setting is modern suburbia, but demons exist and can possess the recently deceased or those willing to ally with them. Our heroine is a retired demon hunter, pulled out of her suburban life to fight a powerful foe.

The _Buffy_ influences are evident, but well handled. It is "horror", in the sense of including demons, but there are no graphic descriptions of death, injuries, or foul evil. There is some mention of sex between the married protagonist and her husband, which is discretely handled). The fight scenes are brief. The book is suitable for, tho perhaps not interesting to, a teenage reader.

For the experienced mystery reader, the puzzle, clues, and red-herrings will be obvious too soon. This reader found herself impatiently waiting for Kate to figure out the problem at several points.

I found the the setting and the situations a bit too akin to Buffy and the underlying puzzle weak. I'd recommend it as beach reading from the library or used book bin, but not at full price.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Which is more stressful--demon-hunting or car-pooling?, March 2, 2007

By	Snowbrocade (Santa Barbara, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom (Book 1) (Paperback)

Carpe Demon is a contender in the supernatural tough-chick genre--in this case combined with mommy lit! Kate is a retired demon hunter who gets pulled back into the game when a demon with a plan arrives in her quiet little town. At first Kate tries to avoid the situation but when a demon comes crashing through her kitchen window she must defend her family while adjusting her toddler to day care, supervising her teen daughter's mall excursions and entertaining her husband's business contacts.

This is a promising beginning to a series. Kenner crafts a fun little tale in an alternate universe where demons live alongside humans and the Vatican trains young people to become demon hunters. Her characters are lively and real. Tension is created in the story by keeping the protagonist's demon hunter identity secret from her family. This device works though all the questions about why this is really necessary come up for the reader and can be a little frustrating. A minor quibble is some spelling typos--vial for vile, and hoard for horde. It seems good editing is hard to find these days! But hey--this is a fun read so let the literary analysis go and enjoy it!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Teenage angst, child care, and demon killing -- yikes!, November 14, 2005

By	Gayle Surrette "omnivorous reader" (Brandywine, Maryland) - See all my reviews

Kate Connor thought she'd put her demon hunting days behind her. She'd lost a husband and had a teenage daughter from her first marriage. Now happily remarried with a young child, she was focused on getting her daughter through high school, her son potty trained and helping her husband get elected county attorney. What could possibly go wrong?

A senior citizen demon crashing through your kitchen window just before a party is not the way Kate expected to find out that demons are invading her town. Then she finds that budget cuts have severely reduced the demon hunting group and she's basically on her own -- though the church will send someone to do research. So now Kate has to hone her rusty demon hunting skills and pick up some of the dutes the support teams used to do without her daughter or husband find out. But it seems a demon might be after her family and she's going to have to take charge and that might mean bring in some untrained help -- her friends.

This books was in turns funny, hilarious, frustrating, and sad. There is so much of a the daily life of a stay at home mom and the problems of everyone thinking your day is your own. Stir in demon hunting/killing, a drugged out senior demon hunter, a husband who is acting weird and things take off.

This is not a serious book but it is fun.