This is the third volume in the Twenty Palaces series.

Ray Lilly is back doing what he does best, stopping rogue mages. It starts with a visit from an old flame. She appears in his home and tells him that he has killed her and all of his old friends. His face burns from her slap and he realizes that something is amiss here. He goes back to L.A. to uncover what is killing his old gang and stop it.

Ray discovers that Wally King, the sorcerer he first encountered is behind everything. This is a wonderful look at Ray’s back-story, filling in pieces of his history that we have never known. We discover who Ray was, why he started as a wooden man for the society, and where he obtained his one spell.

Being a Ray Lilly story there is, of course, plenty of death and destruction but, these are people Ray cared for so there is also more angst. Ray becomes more three dimensional and real with this volume.

I expect that there will be many more books in this series, and I am eagerly anticipating each one.  Highly Recommended ~~ Bob LaPierre