The Demon in Business Class

This book teased me. I wanted to like it and yet I felt incomplete, as if I was just given a glimpse of the deeper levels to the tale. Gabriel and Zarabeth have so much potential and I could see that right away. I expected to see twists and turns, victories and losses, that warped their character arcs. And yet, not as much happened as I expected. For me, the pacing was rather slow. The story took it’s sweet time revealing the plot and there were so many hints as to where things were going that when we got there, I had already guessed. So there lacked suspense and anticipation. The plot was almost there for me, almost exciting, almost engaging. I really wanted to be fully engaged by this tale. This is a tough review to write because I feel that this story just needed a little more here or a little less there and it would have blown my socks off. I read a lot of fantasy and mysteries and this book should be a great mix of the two. And yet I was bored most of the time. The main characters have limited grown and the side characters are static throughout the story. While the story takes us around the world, it all felt like a corporate setting no matter where the physical location was. I do like that the story doesn’t shy away from the seedier side of things. There’s drug use, alcoholism, and questionable sex. The polyglot demon was certainly intriguing. I think I would trade a pretty penny to have a polyglot demon on board while traveling the world. The story is whole, having a story arc, etc. It just didn’t hold my attention. Overall, 3.5/5 stars. The Narration: Laura Petersen was a good pick for Zarabeth. She sounded like the perfect jaded woman who can see her career slipping down a drain. Petersen’s voice for Gabriel was sometimes spot on and sometimes lacked masculinity. This story had many international accents and regional dialects which I think would be a challenge for any narrator. Sometimes Petersen captured the accent/dialect perfectly, but sometimes it was a total miss. The pacing was slow even after I sped up the playback speed. 3.5/5 stars. I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Anthony Dobranski. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.