Book Review: "Salt and Silver"

Sometimes when I see a little mass-market paperback tucked into a display at the book store, I wonder if it's worth my $6 or $7. Many of these books tend to have a fat page count and a skinny storyline. But I was not disappointed by Anna Katherine's "Salt and Silver."

One could almost call it a good beach read; that is, if you find a story about battling demons, trying to shut doorways to hell amid a budding romance, to be a fun little escape. I certainly did.

Allie is the lead character, once a spoiled trust fund baby, but after her mom ran away to Rio with Rio, her mom's tennis instructor, Allie is forced to fend for herself. She takes the reversal of fortune in pretty good stride, definitely better than her best friends would have.

Now Allie is in charge of Sally's diner, and running a business would seem to be work enough, but Allie and her still-posh pals booze it up one night and doing a silly, drunken incantation they end up opening a doorway to hell.

Allie and her friends don't know what to do, but fortunately Ryan does. He's a sexy stranger who wears a Stetson and all leather. (Well, actually it's lamia skin: Read the book to find out what a lamia is.)

Ryan is assigned to guard the door and deal with any trouble that might bust its way out, and while Sally's Diner now has a door to hell, Allie can't help but think Ryan is the highway to heaven (on earth). She lets Ryan camp out at the diner, use her shower to wash up, her bed or floor to crash on, and along the way they form some sort of bond. Not romantic, exactly, since Ryan doesn't want any sort of romance. Basically he doesn't want to risk anyone he cares for getting hurt. But they definitely feel a connection.

So Ryan battles demons, and Allie helps and learns along the way how to kick evil's butt. It's a dirty job but someone's got to do it. So the job keeps getting done, but a little glitch comes along: Allie's door to hell disappears. Ryan thinks maybe she had something to do with it, but Allie doesn't think so.

On top of that, doorways to hell are opening up all over the city and some pretty nasty stuff is coming out. Definitely not good. But after a bit of information gathering from a witch and other demon hunters (who have their own cliques, marked via the type of headgear they wear), they hatch a plan to go to hell and try to resolve this thing.

The journey to hell is dark and depressing, but it definitely is interesting to see what the gang finds and how things get resolved.