Dark Currents

Dark Currents is the first instalment in a new urban fantasy series Agent of Hel by American author Jacqueline Carey.
Set in the picturesque Midwestern tourist town of Pemkowet, protagonist Daisy Johanssen is a hell-spawn, daughter of a demon and mortal mother and the chosen representative and enforcer for the Norse goddess Hel, ruler of the Underworld and the Fae community of Pemkowet. Daisy acts as an intermediary between the mortal community in her role as official Fae liaison for Pemkowet Police Department and the Fae creatures that call Pemkowet home, vampires, fairies, pixies, nymphs, ghouls, werewolves, brownies and many other eldritch beings drawn to the magical powers centered around Yggdrasil and the Underworld ruled by Hel. On initial appearance, Pemkowet is an ordinary tourist town but the sudden death of a wealthy college student and involvement of the Fae community requires Daisy to act as liaison and solve the issues quickly without disrupting the balance between mortal and Fae communities.
But Daisy has her own issues, not controlling her demonic heritage could have consequences for her ability to succeed as Hel’s liaison, where Daisy’s temptation to unleash her anger and high emotions often leads to unintended violent effects on the world around her. Daisy has a race against time to discover who murdered the human college student and the purportaitors of crimes against the Fae before the delicate balance of Pemkowet dissolves into chaos.
Dark Currents was an enjoyable urban fantasy with a well-researched folkloric and mythology background which provided great foundations for the unusual setting of the novel. It was a novel of opposites that matched the town it is set in: a story that was light and dark, amusing but also with serious undertones. I look forward to reading the other novels in the Agent of Hel Trilogy!