Reviewed by Sheri Harper
Demon Inhibitions
Gary Starta
Source ISBN: 1927454891, March 15, 2013
Demon Inhibitions is novelist Gary Starta’s third book set in a fantasy world featuring a crime investigator, in this one Caitlin is the heroine and she’s recently departed the FBI after losing her partner and lover to go into practice as a private eye. It’s a fast paced story involving a parallel world in which fantasy archetypes are predominant in the population. Gary Starta also brings into the story the mythology of Egypt in an unusual way that is essential to the story line. The mix of worlds creates a dramatic background against which the story unfolds.
The heroine, Caitlin is a tall sexy, independent woman willing to take on problems at the request of friends. A subplot of the story involves her exploration of her own sexuality after her prolonged period of mourning when it reasserts after she’s introduced to a number of attractive men. She must decide what makes a man attractive as a partner and why. The story is told primarily from her point of view and the reader becomes familiar with her thought processes and her stumbling intuitive and often psychic uncovering of villains. As the story progresses, Caitlin has to face aspects of her abilities she had never known before.
In Demon Inhibitions she faces down a demon who is killing real estate agents, only to find out the initial problem was simply the first act of a larger problem. Someone is out to kill a special person who has the ability to cure people of their affliction. Each step along the trail, Caitlin finds out the problem she is facing is considerably larger than she first thought, adding worlds, people, numerous potential villians, a conspiracy, political groups etcs. Underlying the whole tale is a question about the rights of individuals and the prejudice people may have about certain groups. It also shows how prejudice is often a result of our preconceived ideas about how people within a certain group behave without really going out and finding out the truth.
Readers that like imaginative fiction with strange beings, unusual worlds and fantastic abilities might like Gary Starta’s Demon Inhibitions. Those who like a good mystery will like this story, for one because a surprising turn happens in the first part of the book where the mystery solved adds additional layers of meaning and conflict in the mystery that arises out of the roots of that issue. It seems demons have many good and bad sides to them, but do they have a cure?
About the reviewer: Sheri Fresonke Harper is a poet and writer. She’s been published in many small journals and is working on her second science fiction novel. See www.sfharper.com