Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha

Title: Deal with the Devil
Author: Kit Rocha
Publisher: Tor Books
Pub date: July 2020
Series: Mercenary Librarians, book 1
Genre: Science fiction romance

Amazon | Indiebound

I saw Deal with the Devil described as Orphan Black meets the post-apocalyptic and knew I had to read it. Plus- mercenary librarians?! What’s not to love?

It’s a dystopian-not-too-far-away future where solar flares have destroyed an already crumbling societal infrastructure. The evil TechCorps fills the power vacuum, using its wealth, power, and tech to further its own agenda.

People are genetically or biochemically enhanced to better serve their purpose for TechCorps. Until they’re no longer useful and get decommissioned aka killed.

Nina is an information broker, one of the genetically modified who escaped. Now she and her two friends are trying to carve out better lives for themselves and the people in their neighborhood. The women take the money they earn and use it to help provide food, shelter and even books, a rare commodity, to others.

So when Garret Knox and his crew show up offering to lead the women to a cache from the Library of Congress, it seems to good to be true.

And it is because Knox and his men have been coerced into kidnapping Nina and her crew.

My thoughts

This felt like the structure of a romance complete with sizzling tension between the leads and lots of sarcastic banter with their crews. With an overlay of evil corporation dystopian future. The author duo really made it work. Fast-paced, with a few twists and turns along the way.

Other books

If you enjoy strong women dealing with a dystopian Georgia, try the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, another writing duo. For another community-minded woman with a speculative fiction setting, try Written in Red by Anne Bishop.

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About the author

Kit Rocha is the pseudonym for co-writing team Donna Herren and Bree Bridges. After penning dozens of paranormal novels, novellas and stories as Moira Rogers, they branched out into gritty, sexy dystopian romance.

Thanks to NetGalley and Tor Books for the DRC.