Personal Demon

Chaos rules in Armstrong’s complex eighth Women of the Otherworld installment (after 2007’s No Humans Involved ). The formidable Benicio Cortez once helped “tabloid-reporting, gun-toting, chaos demon spy girl” Hope Adams out of a jam, so she agrees to go undercover and join a supernatural youth gang that’s been causing problems for Cortez’s multinational corporation. Assuming the persona of bratty rich co-ed Faith Edmonds, Hope works her way into the gang, participates in heists and soon finds herself dangerously attracted to one of the other members, cute Jasper “Jaz” Haig. All too soon, Jaz’s diabolical plans lead to a shocking tragedy. Armstrong excels in depicting Hope’s transformations, but new readers might want to read earlier books to get context for all the mayhem. (Mar.)