When Brie goes back into the office to send a fax, she finds her boss, Luke, performing an exorcism on a coworker. Then her favorite coworker disappears, and suddenly Brie and Luke are searching for her in the underworld.

Based on that setup, I really thought I was getting a workplace demon-hunting book. Now that I’ve actually read the blurb again, I realize that was mostly my own fault.

The first 30% of this book was exactly what I wanted. It was funny, chaotic, and gave me Carpe Demon by Julie Kenner vibes. Anytime a book can make me feel like I’m back in my early-2000s paranormal fantasy era, I’m in.

Then the journey through the underworld started.

Some of it was still really funny, especially Luke running into his ex in Kansas, but the trip started to feel long. Instead of a wild road trip through Hell, it sometimes felt more like a very slow stroll through it.

Then the ending went in the opposite direction and felt rushed. In what felt like 30 pages, we were resolving multiple kidnappings, Luke’s history, and Brie’s trauma all at once.

Overall, I liked about half of this book a lot, and the premise was strong enough that I’d read another Mackenzie Reed book. If she keeps coming up with plot ideas like this, I’m curious to see what she does next.