Bookburners: Season 1

This perfectly fluffy urban fantasy yarn, a compiled “season” of 16 serial “episodes” (all published online by Serial Box as both text and audio), begins with NYPD detective Sal Brooks rescuing her brother, Perry, from demonic possession with the unexpected aid of a team from the Vatican Black Archives: cool ultra-warrior Grace, hunky master hacker Liam, magic-dabbling archivist Asanti, and doubt-tormented moral lynchpin Father Menchu. Perry remains in a coma, so Sal joins the team on their mission to confiscate the books that demons use as portals into our world. The action jumps around the globe, with side trips to other dimensions, while the writing briskly slides between vividly horrific and flippantly camp. The plot becomes agreeably complicated as Sal and her friends frantically tamp down fresh outbreaks of magic even as experience blurs their notions of good and evil. Reading all 16 episodes in one go is as much fun as binge-watching a full season of a Showtime series. (Jan.)