Book and Audiobook Review: Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha

Deal with the Devil
Author: Kit Rocha
Series: Mercenary Librarians (Book 1)

Narrator: Lidia Dornet
Publication: Tor Books (July 28, 2020); Macmillan audio

Length: 331 p.; 12 hours and 36 minutes

Description: Deal with the Devil is Orphan Black meets the post-apocalyptic Avengers by USA Today and New York Times bestselling author duo Kit Rocha.

Nina is an information broker with a mission—she and her team of mercenary librarians use their knowledge to save the hopeless in a crumbling America.

Knox is the bitter, battle-weary captain of the Silver Devils. His squad of supersoldiers went AWOL to avoid slaughtering innocents, and now he's fighting to survive.

They’re on a deadly collision course, and the passion that flares between them only makes it more dangerous. They could burn down the world, destroying each other in the process…

Or they could do the impossible: team up.

This is the first book in a near-future science fiction series with elements of romance.

My Thoughts: DEAL WITH THE DEVIL is a near-future, post-apocalyptic science fiction story with a lot of romance. The setting is Atlanta but an Atlanta divided into many neighborhoods with a wide variety of resources. 

Nina, Maya, and Dina are all escapees from various places that bred and trained them and likely want them back. They are using their various talents to help the people in their neighborhood to survive. They are also librarians who are intent on gathering and sharing information that would be helpful to survival.

Knox is the leader of the Silver Devils - a squad that is AWOL from the Protectorate. Since his soldiers are all bio-enhanced and in danger of dying now that they don't have access to the Protectorate's maintenance drugs, he agrees to take a job to kidnap Nina and exchange her for a hostage who can help keep his men alive. He tells her that he has a lead on a buried library archive that holds all sorts of riches. 

As the two groups - Knox and his men and Nina and her team - travel together and face bandits and other hardships, they begin to appreciate each other. Knox has second thoughts about betraying Nina once he gets to know her and see her essential goodness. But he still needs to find a way to rescue the hostage and save his men. 

I enjoyed the worldbuilding in this story. I thought the post-apocalyptic world was intriguing. As a librarian, I was also intrigued by the idea of future librarians keeping the light of civilization burning. The romance was spicy but I felt it was realistic considering the personalities of the characters. I enjoyed the banter between the characters who all had unique personalities and histories. 

I look forward to reading more books in this series as they become available.

Favorite Quote:

Evil wasn't afraid of good. Because good people always expected evil to play by the rules, and by the time they realized the game had changed, evil had won. 

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.