Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Phoenix has tried to be a cop, but being a psychic cop brings problems that she can’t deal with and she’s forced to step away. Now working as a bartender at a local cop watering hole, she’s able to be a small part of the job. When her foster mother calls her in, Liz finds her dying and the love of her youth as the prime suspect. She starts to investigate on her own and is forced to revisit her past in an attempt to save the world and prove that Jimmy didn’t kill their foster mother.

With book one of The Phoenix Chronicles, Any Given Doomsday, Lori Handeland uses her amazing skills of weaving mythology into a fresh story that speeds along. Elizabeth Phoenix is a fabulous heroine with just the right balance of in-your-face attitude and vulnerability when it comes to interpersonal relationships. Fans of Ms. Handeland’s Night Creature series will see echoes of her style, but she amps up the heat in this book with a very different feel that echoes the difficulties that Liz, Sawyer, and Jimmy face. While her earlier works have a dark undertone, this one brings the dark to the forefront. I am very happy to have been able to read this and am really looking forward to Doomsday Can Wait.

Reviewed by: Serena