Foretold by Jana Oliver

Published: Dec 2012

Publisher: St Martins Griffin

Pages: 352

Copy: Mine

Summary: Goodreads

In FORETOLD, the fourth Demon Trappers novel by Jana Oliver, Riley faces the final battle for humanity and Beck's heart—and Hell is the least of her problems

Now that Riley’s managed to (just barely) fend off Armageddon, everything’s changed. Well . . . most things. After their passionate kiss before the big battle in the cemetery, Beck is back to treating her like a little girl, as if nothing ever happened. While she’d love to just tell him off and move on, Riley vowed to take care of Beck the way he’s taken care of her since her father’s death—but she’s about to get a whole lot more than she bargained for. When she’s commissioned to go with Beck to his hometown and help him care for his dying mother, they stumble too close to a dark and murderous secret, one that Beck fears will drive Riley away from him forever. As chaos breaks loose, Riley may be Beck's only hope for redemption . . . and survival.

Meanwhile, up in Atlanta, it’s quickly becoming clear that Heaven may have won a battle, but the war is far from over. Riley and Beck face a stormy future, as Lucifer's ex-right-hand-man, Sartael, proves himself to be more resilient than anyone thought. He has Atlanta in his grip and is about to begin a brutal war with the prince of Hell. As the seconds tick down toward a final confrontation, it's up to Riley and the man she loves to finally defeat their old enemy, or lose everything they've fought for.

I loved, loved, loved this book and I am so sad that this series is now over.  I absolutely fell in love with the characters, Riley and Beck in particular, but most of the secondary characters as well - Grand Master Stewart was such a great guy.   Ms. Oliver seemed to be able to imbue her characters with a sense of family - a trapper family - and the caring between them all was incredibly touching and real.

If you've read the series you'll have to agree with me that there really never was any doubt that Riley and Beck would get together - the question was just how, and at the end of  Forgiven I was just about ready to tear my hair out with frustration.  But Ms. Oliver came through and in Foretold she managed to bring their story to a fantastic end.  I was even a little misty-eyed when I finished the last page. 

I've been trying to come up with a suitable description for this series and I think that if you take the best parts of Buffy and the same of the early seasons of Supernatural, put them together and mix them up a bit, well you might get an inkling of what it's all about.  Riley doesn't look like Buffy, but she has the same characteristics and is equally kick-butt.  Beck reminds me a bit of Dean Winchester, hard on the outside, but oh so caring underneath it all, although he'd die before admitting it.

Book doppelganger - I'm thinking Sarah Rees Brennan's Demon Lexicon trilogy - if you enjoyed it, you're sure to like this Demon Trapper's series.  I'm not sure why, but here in Canada the first volume was called The Demon Trapper's Daughter, then they changed it to Forsaken, followed by The Soul Thief, which changed to Forbidden,  then Forgiven and then on course this one, Foretold.  Check out my reviews of them all.  This really was a marvellous book, finishing off a marvellous series and if you haven't tried them yet, treat yourself - and you have the added bonus of not having to wait for any to come out.