Daemons Are Forever by Simon R. Green

Bond. Shaman Bond. Actually, the name's Drood, Eddie Drodd. For centuries, the Droods have been fighting the monsters in the shadows so that the rest of you lot can go about your ever day lives. These days, I'm the head of the family.

Because I'm the head of the family, it's fallen to me to deal with a bit of a mess left over from World War II. Seems that back then the Droods made a pact with a bunch of demons known as the Loathy Ones to fight some really nasty buggers called up by the Nazis. Once the war was over, we couldn't get rid of them. Now they're calling their masters to invade and destroy our world...and we Droods are the last, best hope of stopping them.

I'd say that the world is in a major lot of trouble.

So says the voice of Eddie Drood the new head of the wildly dysfunctional family that is supposed to save humanity from those who aren't human. The book takes place shortly after the first one, The Man With the Golden Torc (review), ended.

Eddie is confronted by a family struggling to regain it's footing now that they are without their protections and facing a identity crisis. This is compounded by the fact that the outside world is starting to get a sense that the Droods are not in the best of shape so they start testing the waters. To keep the outside from finding out Eddie decides they need to send a message and wipe out The Loathy Ones, which they were responsible for bringing into our dimension to begin with. In the process of scoping the demons out, they discover something even worse is coming. The Loathy Ones are only the shadows of greater beings, The Hungry Gods, who are trying to enter our world and devourer it.

With the help of a odd mix of people; Molly Metcalf the Witch of the Wild Woods and his girlfriend, his cousin Harry Drood who has a axe to grind since Eddie killed his father, Harry's half brother Roger Morningstar who happens to be half demon and Harry's lover, Mr. Stab, Subway Sue, and various other family members including two different Uncle Jacobs, the Uncle Jacob we met in the last book as a ghost and the Uncle Jacob from the past before he died.

I loved this book even more than the first one. The characters keep getting cooler and the writing is even better. Anyone who is a fan of urban fantasy needs to start this series and they will find themselves laughing and on the edge of your seat at the same time.