Short Synopsis
Using magic means it uses you back, and every spell exacts a price from its user. But some people get out of it by Offloading the cost of magic onto an innocent. Then it's Allison Beckstrom's job to identify the spell-caster. And when she finds a boy dying from a magical Offload that has her father's signature all over it, Allie is thrown into a world of black magic.

Full Synopsis
Everything has a cost. And every act of magic exacts a price from its user—maybe a two-day migraine, or losing the memory of your first kiss. But some people want to use magic without paying, and they Offload the cost onto innocents. When that happens, it falls to a Hound to identify the spell's caster—and Allison Beckstrom is the best there is.

Daughter of a prominent Portland businessman, Allie would rather moonlight as a Hound than accept the family fortune—and the strings that come with it. But when she discovers a little boy dying from a magic Offload that has her father's signature all over it, Allie is thrown into the high-stakes world of corporate espionage and black magic.

Now Allie's out for the truth—and she must call upon forces that will challenge everything she knows, change her in ways she could never imagine, and make her capable of things that powerful people will do anything to control.

"Allie's internal and external struggles are brilliantly and tightly written, creating a multifaceted character who will surprise, amuse, amaze and absorb [listeners]." ---Publishers Weekly Starred Review

"Loved it. Fiendishly original." ---Patricia Briggs

"Monk's writing is addictive and the only cure is more, more, more." ---Rachel Vincent

Publishers Weekly Review