Just another manic Monday [Review: The Secret Eater]

Kenssie is a demon with an unusually human appearance, who discovers that she is losing her demonic powers. Can she penetrate the secrets and conspiracies of the demonic world and recover them before she loses the respect of Rakmanon, her powerful demon boss?

This Young Adult novella by Ros Jackson is, on one level, about demons and witches in the modern world. On another level it's an office romance - the story of a personal assistant in love with her boss. In Kenssie's world, demons, witches and humans can be "enthralled" to more powerful demons - both enslaved and in love with their superiors. They can be abused, mistreated and still remain loyal and devoted - the perfect employee. Demons feed off human emotions (and sometimes their owners) and Kenssie's "work" involves sniffing out sources of embarrassment for her boss, while she herself feeds off secrets. Kenssie is a likeable character and a very human demon, resourceful, witty and intelligent without being a supercharged kick-ass action heroine, who never lets a simple solution get in the way of a complicated scheme to land herself in even more trouble.

This is a very short novel but there are several interesting ideas and funny moments, and a lot of scope for exploring themes like love, loyalty, unequal relationships and corporate power games. I did think some of these ideas could have been explored further but this is an enjoyable read and I was left curious to know more about Kenssie's world.

Ros Jackson's website is here.