Book Review -- Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

Dead Witch Walking is an interesting look at the supernatural world. Kim Harrison takes us into a world that was nearly wiped out by a virus in tomatoes. Well at least the normal humans were. Vampires, werewolves, witches and other supernatural beings were immune to the disease.

I had a little trouble getting into the book, it was slow at first. Rachel Morgan the main character is rather sarcastic and I had some trouble with her attitude. There was also a lot of explaining to set up the story. A few chapters into the book it really picked up and I really started to enjoy the book.

The book starts with Rachel, a witch, and Jenks, a pixie, working to pick up a rouge magic user. They run into Ivy a living vampire who used to be Rachel’s partner. Ivy has her own job picking up some bad vampires. Both women catch their targets and share a cab back to the Inderland Security to deposit the bad guys.On the ride there Rachel starts thinking about quitting the company because she has been getting crappy jobs.

This is when all hell breaks loose as Ivy the number one agent for the I.S. decides to quit too. The head of the company puts a huge bounty on Rachel and she can’t return home.
Rachel, Ivy and Jenks and his family move into a church in The Hollows. The Hollows is where most Inderlandes live, segregated from the normal humans.
They originally wanted to start a business as bounty hunters. With the looming death threat on Rachel they have to focus on a way to keep her out of harms way.

Rachel is her own worst enemy, she never thinks things through. She decides she is going find proof to bring down a criminal and buy her way out of her I.S. contract. She does this despite the fact that no one has been able to prove he is anything but respectable.

I really had a lot of issues with Rachel, I kept thinking to myself that she was stupid. She rushed into everything without a solid plan. She got caught almost every time. She began to sprout some brains near the end of the book and took Ivy’s advice on making a good plan. There were a lot of hints the Rachel is a powerful witch but it doesn’t materialize much in this book.

I think this series has a lot of promise. I really liked Ivy and the living verses dead vampire story line. I also loved Jenks and his cute pixie family. I think I will like Rachel better in the next book.
This dark novel gets 3.5 stars out of five.