A Devil in the Details by K.A. Stewart is an urban fantasy starring Jesse James Dawson. Dawson is a bushido-following, katana wielding demon fighter who also works part time at a trendy store called It.

Demons are real, and people can bargain with them in exchange for their souls. But a fairly small group of people know that these situations are real, and choose to fight the demons, taking on contracts with these people who have bargained their souls away. They then deal with the demon, and if they manage to defeat it, the person gets their soul back.

It was a pretty cool premise, and something that I hadn't really seen done before (I'm sure it's out there, and that someone will be able to point me to it, I just haven't read it myself before).

The writing reminded me quite a bit of The Dresden Files, which was good. If Harry Dresden had started out with a wife and a five year old kid, and used a sword, then you'd have A Devil in the Details. One problem that I had with the book was it's length. It felt short to me. Now, I'll preface that by saying that I just finished a Dresden Files marathon, reading them all back to back. Stewart's novel seemed about half the length of the later Dresden books. The story worked just fine, I was just left feeling a little surprised that it all happened so fast. There wasn't much in the way of convoluted plot, which was nice for a change. One guy, two problems that become one big problem (don't they always?). Straight forward.

The story takes place in Kansas City, which was fun to read about, since I've yet to read the other major urban fantasy books that have chosen KC as their setting. The secondary characters were believable, and Dawson's relationship with his wife and child was very well done.

I loved:

-the fact that it was a male main character.
-the fact that there was no paranormal romance of any sort in the story.
-the refreshing fact that the character is married, and has to make some tough decisions that involve thinking about someone else.

I hated:

-nothing, really. My only real complaints are that it was short-ish, and that there wasn't anything absolutely AMAZING about the book.

There's nothing startlingly brilliant in this first novel, but it's very solid and enjoyable. The fact that the main character actually has a functional relationship with a member of the opposite sex was refreshing as hell. I'd give it 8/10, and I'm looking forward to the second book,A Shot in the Dark, which should be out in July.