The Better Part of Darkness
Book 1 in the Charlie Madigan Series
Charlie Madigan is a divorced mother of one, and a kick-ass cop trained to take down the toughest human and off-world criminals. She's recently returned from the dead after a brutal attack, an unexplained revival that has left her plagued by nightmares and random outbursts of strength that make doing her job for Atlanta P.D.'s Integration Task Force even harder. Since the Revelation, the criminal element in Underground Atlanta has grown, leaving Charlie and her partner Hank to keep the chaos to a dull roar. But now an insidious new danger is descending on her city with terrifying speed, threatening innocent lives: a deadly, off-world narcotic known as ash. Charlie is determined to uncover the source of ash before it targets another victim. But can she protect those she loves from a force more powerful than heaven and hell combined?
More Quotes
Charlie Madigan is who I want to be in my next life. She’s strong but conflicted, muddling her way through life like a real person but always working to do the right thing. I’ve read few books with the hurricane pace of this gritty, urban, fantasy. This novel is like the energizer bunny on drugs. Before you know it, it’s tomorrow morning and you’re wondering what the hell happened, where’d the time go and when can you get another fix? I have no doubt that Kelly Gay will be the drug of choice for thousands; she’s just that damn good. Bring it on, Kelly Gay!
— Bitten by Books (5 Tombstones)
I am now officially a Kelly Gay fangirl. Charlie Madigan is an awesome character, tough, strong, and she fits right into this dark, gritty world. I could not put this book down. I was completely hooked by the end of the first chapter and read it in one sitting.
— Fallen Angel Reviews (5 Angels)
Kelly Gay's sprawling tour of Underground Atlanta puts me in mind of an estrogen—driven Blade Runner, with an imaginative otherworldly population . . .and a heroine who doesn't take crap from any of them. Her dark urban setting is so gritty, vivid, and original that it flaunts one of the greatest qualities of good fantasy: utter believability. A fork would stand up straight in world—building of this complexity, yet it's balanced by the simple story of a mother who will risk anything for those she loves.
Kelly Gay whisked me into a dangerous world and made me want to stick around. This is the urban fantasy novel I didn't know I was looking for, and I can't wait to spend more time with Charlie Madigan.
—Vicki Pettersson, New York Times bestselling author of The Signs of the Zodiac series.
Awesome doesn't even begin to describe The Better Part of Darkness . . . I never wanted the book to end. I sincerely hope Charlie Madigan is around for a good long while. Kelly Gay has won herself a fan in me.
—Reading with Tequila (5 shots)