'Servant: The Awakening' by L.L. Foster

ISBN: 0425218740
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 304pp
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Pub. Date: October 2007
Price: $7.99

Servant: The Awakening is a new paranormal series by L.L. Foster or Lori Foster the author of more than 60 novels that have been on the New York Times Bestseller list. Maybe she thought the initials would help ease her into the paranormal market, a market that she had not until now written in. But whether it’s L.L. Foster or Lori Foster The Awakening is great. Plus it tells you right in the back of the book that it’s a pseudonym so it’s not like it’s a big secret.

Gabrielle Cody is unlike any other character I’ve read. Innocent, deadly, sheltered and yet so aware of the evil that the world contains it makes your heart ache. Gaby has lived a tough life, shoved from foster home to foster home, always on the edges of humanity she has been shunned because of her special gift. A gift that God has bestowed upon her to eliminate evil.

On her 21st birthday Gaby receives a call, a pain so intense she is able to focus on nothing else, and she rushes out to find and destroy the evil. Tall, thin, and wielding a huge knife she is more than able to defend herself even if she does look like nothing more than skin and bone. On the way to answer the call she bumps into Luther Cross a detective out wandering the mean streets of this unspecified city. He is immediately drawn to her but Gaby knows that there is no room in her life for friends or lovers.

When one of the bodies that Gaby dispatched is found by Luther he becomes suspicious of her and enlists her friend and landlord Morty to keep an eye on her. But no matter how antisocial Gaby is she can’t seem to shake the persistent detective who is interested in her for more than one reason. But Luther isn’t the only one watching Gaby; an evil so intense it hurts is trailing her as well. Never close enough for her to get a fix on, running away before she can confront it, but always there lingering at the edges Gaby knows it’s only a matter of time before she must face it.

This is completely different from any of the paranormal fiction you are going to find out there right now. God, and to an extent religion, are a big part of the story and the main character. Gaby is this powerful woman able to defeat the evil on earth because of God and she knows this. Also Gaby turns her holy adventures into graphic novels that are then published under a false name and have a huge underground following. I have a feeling that later in the series this idea will really come into play.

Along with all the serious slayer stuff there are a few funny moments. Gabby, having lived a life of deprivation dedicated to her calling, is totally unaware about sex. With no TV or radio to fill in her lack of education she corners Luther into filling her in on the fine details. While nothing too steamy happens beyond a few kisses the dialogue is sure to bring out a smile or two.

Servant: The Awakening is short and the pages just fly by; this was another one that I found myself glued to , unable to set it down, and reading over my lunch break. Better yet the story continues with Servant: The Acceptance which as of yet has no set release date besides the caption at the back of the book which reads ‘coming soon’ but for me it can’t be soon enough.