Death of an Adept - Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris

Death Of An Adept
Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris
Ace Fantasy
Copyright: 1996
0441003044

According to the back of the book:

Mystic and historian, Sir Adam Sinclair is Master of the Hunt, leader of a secret brotherhood at war with the dark and unholy Powers that menace our world. In his time he has challenged the forces of evil and been victorious. Now evil is rising once again - an extraordinary evil born of ancient elemental magic and twentieth-century ambition.

And Adam Sinclair will face the most unthinkable crime against his kind: murder.

In this, the final book in the Adept series everything seems to come full circle, back to the events of the first book, with attempts by the Lodge of the Lynx, a cast of familiar villains who've been popping up through most of the other books to summon the aid of Taranis in order to take up their self-appointed task once again. At the same time, Adam's relationship with Ximena, absent except in a few references from the previous two books is taken to a new level as they prepare for marriage.

Death of An Adept is the final book in the series. The first books are: The Adept, The Adept: Lodge of the Lynx, The Adept: The Templar Treasure and Dagger Magic. Also in the same world are short stories in two anthologies edited by Katherine Kurtz, Lammas Night and, set during the Middle Ages, The Temple and the Stone, and The Temple and the Crown.

It had been long enough since the last time I read Death of an Adept that I'd forgotten a lot of the details, such as the fact that John Graham from Lammas Night has a part in this book as well. I'd thought it was just the third book in the Adept series that he came in (as well as one of the short stories), so that made it almost like reading the book for the first time. Always a neat thing to have happen.

Although this book winds up the series (and does so in a very dramatic fashion) the authors left a possible hint for more books. I just wish they'd followed through with other books. Perhaps though, this is a good end. After all, Adam is set to be married, Peregrine is married, and they'd have to find a new villain to write. More books might be a let down, although I think I'd gladly read them.

Overall, I really like this series, although there are one or two little things that niggled on this read through, namely that nearly everyone, when introduced to the supernatural and the psychic believed immediately. There seemed to be no skepticism on the part of any characters.

In all of the books in the series, any of the books from Adam's library which is used in the story, it is likely a real book: I know that Holy Blood, Holy Grail and The Temple and the Lodge, both by Baigent and Leigh are real books (they're both in my library, thanks to Kurtz). It's a neat little touch.

One thing I wish when I'm reading this series is that I could wander through Adam's library and see what else he's got on those shelves. It would be interesting to say the least.

I highly recommend this series to anyone who likes urban fantasy.