Rereading Pleasure: Child of Fire

I recently read Harry Connolly's second Twenty Palaces book about Ray Lilly, ex-con and wooden man.  What I like about his urban fantasy books is how the horrible things he sees and does affect Ray, a man already struggling with the things he's done in his past.  So I bought the first book so I could reread it, and I enjoyed it as much the second time around.   Child of Fire: A Twenty Palaces Novel has a lot of scary stuff in it.  Children die.  That's one of the first things Ray sees as his new and terrifying boss makes him drive to the small town in Washington where magic is happening, magic his boss plans to stop.  His uncertainty, fear, and horror drive most of his actions, although he also acknowledges that he is hungry for the power his boss exhibits.  The pacing is fast and the characterization is strong, mainly for Ray but also for the smaller characters in the town.  A good urban fantasy book (and definitely not a romance, for those avoiding girl-cooties in the fantasy). B+