Circle of Enemies: A Twenty Palaces Novel

Former car thief Ray Lilly is now the expendable grunt of a sorcerer responsible for destroying extradimensional predators summoned to our world by power-hungry magicians. Luckily, Ray has some magic of his own, and so far it’s kept him alive. But when a friend from his former gang calls him back to his old stomping grounds in Los Angeles, Ray may have to face a threat even he can’t handle. A mysterious spell is killing Ray’s former associates, and they blame him. Worse yet, the spell was cast by Wally King, the sorcerer who first dragged Ray into the brutal world of the Twenty Palace Society. Now Ray will have to choose between the ties of the past and the responsibilities of the present, as he and the Society face not only Wally King but a bizarre new predator.

"Connolly perfectly wraps up his urban fantasy trilogy (after 2009's Child of Fire and 2010's Game of Cages) with a morally complex and deeply disturbing adventure. The Twenty Palace Society, a cabal of sorcerers, rescued amateur magician and petty criminal Ray Lilly from prison; he repays them by serving as mostly nonmagical muscle. A mysterious message calls Ray from the Pacific Northwest to L.A., where he finds the remaining members of his old gang have been touched by magic and the Society has them marked for death. As Ray hunts the source of the magic, he encounters an old frenemy and begins questioning the Society's motives. Ray already regrets having harmed innocents on the Society's orders; his struggle with his history, his debt to and fear of the Society, and the need to protect the world from magical predators elevates this series well above its peers. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Harry Connolly spent two years writing his first novel, Child of Fire. He has held a variety of jobs in the past, from customer service to landscaping to stay-at-home dad. He lives in Seattle.