Brazen

Bestseller Armstrong’s newest Otherworld novella is a mediocre love story masquerading as an urban fantasy mystery. Heartbreaker werewolf Nick Sorrentino is dispatched to hunt Malcolm Danvers, the pack’s sadistic former alpha; he is aided by supernatural PI Vanessa Callas, a fire demon whose abilities are never fully exploited in the story. Nick’s assertion that Vanessa underestimates Malcolm is proven correct when one of her agents is injured to bait them. As Malcolm taunts them with gory tableaus of dead female victims (and Armstrong suggests that Malcolm may be gay, as though that has any bearing on his evilness), Vanessa discovers Nick is more than a handsome womanizer. Though little time is spent developing the relationship between Nick and Vanessa beyond adrenaline-driven sex, the plot evaporates just in time for the pair to realize that they’d like to become better acquainted. Strictly for diehard Otherworld fans. Agent: Helen Heller, Helen Heller Agency. (Dec.)