Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite

In J.R. Lightfoot’s Drop: The Police Annals of Jax Book II, Fort Worth detective Jax Ferris returns to the city after leaving the police department to work with a federal task force investigating supernatural threats. His target is Debro, the leader of the Order of Light, a secret organization responsible for multiple killings during an earlier conflict known as the Blood Gem battle. When a scientist named Marcus Hem discovers a method of reopening a portal to another realm, Debro captures him to secure the knowledge for herself. Jax begins tracking Debro’s followers through nightclubs, safehouses, and hidden facilities across Texas while fighting berserkers and assassins connected to her network. As law enforcement struggles to contain the rising violence tied to the Order, Jax moves closer to Debro’s operations while preparing for a direct confrontation that could determine control over the portal technology.

J.R. Lightfoot’s Drop takes its name from an actual narcotic in the story called Drop, spreading through the criminal world and the supernatural offenders connected to its distribution. Jax is an awesome main character, moving forward even as the losses mount. I love Mahla, a hunted powerhouse from inside the Order of Light. The world-building is exceptional with both sorcery and organized crime, and we see a familiar city through Lightfoot's new lens, where ritual magic gives rise to supernatural assassins. The settings of everyday Texas locations are phenomenal, from a remote grain silo rooftop to a snowy mountain clearing with a twist. The writing is sharp and packed with action, brimming with mechanical gauntlets, berserkers who transform into monstrous fighters, and dimensional portals that move assassins and creatures from other worlds into the Lone Star state. Overall, this is a series worth every moment spent on the page, and I'm excited to see where Lightfoot takes us next. Very highly recommended.