Book Review: J. Danielle Dorn's DEVIL'S CALL

I just finished reading “Devil’s Call” by J. Danielle Dorn, and all I want right now is for her to write another book.

The story takes place in the early stages of America, when there was still wilderness and untamed areas, just after the Mexican-American war. Li Lian is many things, a wild child, a free spirit, Scottish, Chinese, American, a woman with a fierce spirit, but most of all, Li Lian, or Lily, is a witch from a long line of witches that can trace their history back through Salem, all the way back to persecution in Scotland.

Dorn tells the story of Li Lian in the form of a letter written by mother to child, from a mother that can’t be there to tell the story in person; and she does an excellent job. Dorn paints a vision with enough details to illuminate your way, but not so much as to bog you down or slow the pace. Li Lian’s history unfolds slowly, in bits and pieces, throughout the book, and as the story moved along, I found I didn’t want an ending, I was enjoying the adventure too much.

“Devil’s Call” takes us through St. Louis, Texas, New Orleans, the Badlands of South Dakota; a trail of new adventures and revenge. Some men believe in devils, some men are a devil, and some men take hundreds of years to exact revenge upon someone they believe has wronged them. Li Lian takes on a devil in her desire to right a wrong she was never responsible for, a wrong that happened ages before she was born, but she pays the price for, and in the process loses herself, while never losing site of her most precious treasure, her soon to be born child.

I always worry when writing reviews, of giving away too much of the story, would someone read this and scream “spoiler alert” at me, like I just did to someone two days ago that had seen ALIEN: COVENANT before me? I hope not, and I hope you take time to read “Devil’s Call”; it’s a quick read, and a fun read. I want more stories like this, this format works so well for this tale, and I hope Dorn has more stories for us.