Rachel Caine, Chill Factor

Chill Factor

Rachel Caine

Roc, Jan 2005, $6.99, 352 pp.

ISBN 0457460103

After turning from a Weather Warden to a Djinn and back to a mortal Warden again, Joanne Baldwin is on her way to Las Vegas. Accompanied by her Djinn lover David, she seeks Kevin to take away the bottle that holds Jonathan, the most powerful Djinn in the world. The wardens want Kevin dead because, thanks to him, several of the top leadership is dead and he has power, enhanced by Jonathan, to destroy the world.

Joanne and David are locked out of Las Vegas by magical wards so Lewis, once the most powerful warden in the world until Kevin stole his powers, devises a way for Joanne to momentarily die and be revived inside the city. She finds Jonathan and Kevin but it is Jonathan who manipulates the troubled teen to find the Djinn that have gone missing for the last six years. Joanne is kidnapped by the Ma'at, an organization whose members are dedicated to freeing the Djinn from their human masters and destroy the warden organization for endangering the Earth. They try to convert Joanne to their cause but she escapes and with the help of some allies fights the real mastermind behind all the troubles.

Book three in the Weather Warden Series is an action-packed, urban fantasy. There are many surprises and unexpected plot developments to keep this series fresh and interesting so that readers will continue to read future books to find out what happens next to the ethical, moral and vulnerable heroine. David helps Joanne in so many ways that readers will be in awe of the Djinn's power to love a mortal. Rachel Caine has written a novel worthy of an award nomination.

Harriet Klausner