Death Doesn't Bargain by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Title: Death Doesn't Bargain Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Deadman's Cross # 2

Hardback, 384 Pages
Publication: May 8, 2018 by Tor Books

Source: I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

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The Deadmen are back...
But so are the demons who have broken free of their eternal prison and are bent on mankind's destruction. The worst of the lot is Vine, determined to claim their lives for taking hers. She will see the world burn...and has the perfect lure to destroy them all. One of their own.

Kalder Dupree has never known a day of mercy. Born to the cruelest of mer-races, he sacrificed himself for his crew and is in Vine's hands. He expects no mercy or rescue.

Yet Cameron Jack is determined to set Kalder free. As a Hellchaser, it's her calling, and she cannot allow even a not-so-innocent to be tortured for an act of kindness that spared her damnation.

To defeat evil, it sometimes takes an even worse evil, and Cameron is willing to do whatever she must to make this right. If Vine thought she had her hands full before, she hasn't seen anything nearly as powerful as Cameron's resolve.

Death Doesn’t Bargain continues the saga of Devyl and his crew of deadmen. After the events of Deadmen Walking, Kalder Dupree was captured by Vine, Devyl evil ex-wife. The crew was about to jailbreak Kalder from Vine’s grasp when they discover Kalder back with them and among the living. But their reunion is cut short when a mythical sea beast puts everyone in danger and the only way Kalder could save everyone was to send them through a portal to his home, the undersea kingdom of Wyneria.

A new book in the series meant new lead couple, featuring Kalder and Cameron. Both of whom I adored in the first book. What I really liked about the Deadman’s Cross series is while there’s a different lead couple, the over storyline, arc of the story is connected between all books in the series. This isn’t the norm, or at least from what I’ve seen in the Paranormal Romance genre. I only read two other series that follow the same format, which I also enjoyed and they usually keeps me along for the ride. I’m not a big fan of standalone novels.

In the first book readers were taken aboard Devyl/Mara’s ship and were on the high seas, so it was only fitting that we went under the sea this time… to Kalder’s home. I loved the change of location and focusing on Kalder’s family, the merfolks. Mermaids are so underrated in the Urban Fantasy/Fantasy genre so it was refreshing to see them taking center stage. I also like how Kenyon incorporated different mythology into the series, albeit at times a bit random like Kalder’s true lineage. And while I haven’t read Kenyon’s other series, I know of them and their characters’ name due to their popularity; and many of the characters make an appearance towards the end of the book.

Overall Death Doesn’t Bargain was a good sequel. I thought it started strong but by the time we got toward the end everything fizzled a bit. The ending ended with another kidnapping, this time two crew-members, so it will be interesting to see how the deadmen plan to rescue them and defeat Vine for good!