nmcannon's reviews
1301 reviews

Where Death Meets the Devil: Coda by L.J. Hayward

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I played Maybe: Interactive Stories' adaptation of this novella, which combined it with the sequel novel. You can find my review of Why the Devil Stalks Death here: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/9f86b55b-cc9c-43a6-a1d2-ac68b1f8d89d

Why the Devil Stalks Death by L.J. Hayward

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emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

As I explained in my Where Death Meets the Devil review, my experience with LJ Hayward’s government agent/assassin romance is out of the ordinary. Instead of reading each individual novella and novel, I played the two visual novel adaptations from Maybe: Interactive Stories. Why the Devil Stalks Death’s adaptation included all the novellas between books 1 and 2, in addition to the book proper. Quite the treat!

Meta-State agent Jack Reardon and assassin Ethan Blade love each other very much. When they’re together, sparks fly. The problem is: when and how can they be together? Their jobs are diametrically opposed. Jack must stay in town, while Ethan globe-trots and feels unsafe staying in one place for twenty-four hours. The love is there, sure, but how will our two leads sort out of the logistics? Also: there’s a serial killer on the loose.

Though welding a novel and novellas together made a mess of the pacing, I adored this sequel. While I enjoy witnessing people fall in love, what really gets me is seeing two people navigate being utterly besotted with each other. Hayward manages to mix a startling amount of character development into a thriller premise, and the story became my catnip. Under Hayward’s pen, Jack and Ethan are OTP material. Though sometimes the narrative awkwardly set it aside, the serial killer mystery kept me on my toes. Hayward balances transparency and obscurity with clues, so the reader can follow the logic and stands a chance at figuring out the culprit. Why the Devil Stalks Death tackles and complicates the notion of the Meta-State as well, which made me breathe easier. Privacy is a human right. Any organization who routinely violates that right is going to be trouble.

Why the Devil Stalks Death is a solid sequel that I recommend to anyone who enjoyed its predecessors. Here’s hoping When Death Frees the Devil receives a visual novel adaptation too!

My review of Book 1: Where Death Meets the Devil: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/2cd63ec2-e801-4ff6-be0c-fa8ca9e7f325

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Where Death Meets the Devil by L.J. Hayward

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

My review is going to be a little odd. Firstly, it’s been awhile since I interacted with the story (hi from 2024!). I enjoyed Where Death Meets the Devil so much that I wanted to write a review, but it appears that didn’t happen. Or maybe the Internet ate it? Oh well. I’m doing it now. Secondly, I didn’t read this story in its usual novel form. Instead, I played through the gorgeous visual novel adaptation from Cinanmon Games’s Maybe: Interactive Stories. LJ Hayward worked on the adaptation herself, so it should be a true retelling, but my experience is necessarily different from people’s experience with the novel.

Jack Reardon is a top agent for the Meta-State, a seriously frightening global intelligence monitoring organization based in Australia. He’s in top shape, at the top of his career, and definitely on top of this situation where mafia thugs have him strapped to a chair. The only gobsmacking turn of events is an assassin sauntering into the room and saving him. Notorious in his field and sporting a notorious bubble butt, Ethan Blade proposes an alliance. Together, they can take down this crime boss and afterwards they’ll part ways and resume the usual hostilities. A perfectly fine plan until the clues start leading to conclusions that the Meta-State is way more involved than appropriate.

I used to think I didn’t like thrillers. The spy vs spy crime genre was too military for me. Where Death Meets the Devil cracked a chasm in that premise, because I enjoyed the visual novel immensely. Like lying on my stomach, kicking my feet, and twirling my hair level of enjoyment. There are some rough patches. Hayward’s world-building includes some ableist nonsense about if a pregnant person takes this drug, it makes their child’s eyes a super light blue color, sensitive to sunlight, have anti-social personality disorder, and be supernaturally good at murder. Which is like. Horseshit. Thankfully, this aspect isn’t dwelled on, and we’re back to laughing at Ethan’s pet camel or positing the assassins are actually murderous sugar babies, if you think about it. At its core, Ethan and Jack’s story is a heartwarming romance full of humor. These two jagged, guarded individuals are finding someone they can relax around for the first time in their lives. Through empathy, vulnerability, and the hard work of communication, they fit together.

If you can download Maybe: Interactive Stories, I heartily recommend Where Death Meets the Devil.

Content Warnings