A CROOKED MARK

A life of demon-hunting doesn’t leave much time to examine personal demons.

Matthew Watts has grown up on the road with his father, following assignments from the Second Sweep, a secret organization whose mission is to hunt the Marked, people whose souls have been claimed by Lucifer. On his 17th birthday, Matt is gifted with his first solo mission. It’s up to him to determine if Rae Winter, the only survivor of a tragic accident that claimed her father’s life, may have been possessed in the moments between life and death. After settling into Mills Creek near San Francisco, Matt infiltrates Rae’s life, trying to identify signs that will prove she is Marked. What he doesn’t expect is to find himself wondering what might have been if he’d had a typical teen experience—or developing an interest in Rae that goes beyond his assignment. The diversity of ways grief can be expressed is smartly woven into the narrative through Matt’s observations of the Winter family; his own mother died when he was a toddler. Matt’s questions about the mutability of identity and values as his worldview expands outside the bubble of the Second Sweep will resonate with readers as he comes to terms with the bad he has done and determines how to make things right. Matt’s late mother was Chinese, and his father is implied White; Rae reads White.

This thoughtful debut offers both supernatural thrills and careful character development.