Review of The Demon Catchers of Milan by Kat Beyer

Review of Kat Beyer's The Demon Catchers of Milan

Release Date: August 28th, 2012

Synopsis as found on GoodReads.com:

Mia's ordinary life is disrupted in the most horrifying way possible when she is possessed by a hungry and powerful demon--and only saved by the arrival of relatives from Italy, the country her grandfather fled many decades ago. Now her cousins Emilio and Giuliano say the only way to keep her safe is for her to come back with them to Milan, to live, to learn Italian, to fall in and out of love, and to master the family trade: fighting all demons with the lore of bell, book, and candle. Milan is not what Mia expected, but it will change her forever, in this stunningly well-written novel about an American girl who, fleeing an ancient evil, finds her only salvation in her ancestral home.

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I finally got around to reading this book... and my first reaction after reading it is: What took me so long? Granted, I do have hundreds of books in my to be read piles as well as new advance copies coming in all the time. I decided to read this book now (after waiting over a year since I received it for Christmas 2012 from a friend of mine at work) in preparation for the sequel, which I just received in Advance to the release.

Mia finds herself whisked into a world she didn't know existed when she is possessed by a powerful demon. After the church refuses to exorcise it, her long lost Italian family shows up to do it themselves. Little did she know, that  this is what she was born to do. She never knew she came from a family who used to rule Milan, Italy, before the Christian Church showed up. She never knew what happened to make her deceased Grandfather suddenly run away... and she doesn't know why this demon will not leave her alone. She is haunted by the possibility of never having freedom from it.

In the first book to her Demon Catchers of Milan series, Beyer has woven a tale of an underappreciated family who risk themselves to save their community at the loss of self and family. My only wish is that the first book had been longer, because I was so enraptured with the story that I just didn't want it to end.

Look for the sequel, The Halcyon Bird, on shelves in your local bookstore or online in the Fall of 2014.