The second book in Connolly's Twenty Palaces series finds Ray called suddenly into action by a woman he doesn't know. They head to a small town where someone is auctioning a "predator", one of the creatures from outside the universe that can be summoned, but really shouldn't.
Ray's out of his depth, as he's not only not working with Annalise, this new lady isn't even a peer. Merely a "investigator" with no apparent magical powers. When a peer does eventually arrive, he brushes off Ray entirely, confident he's got everything handled. He does not.
As with the first book, Ray spends a lot of time investigating on his own, finding dead bodies and giving evasive answers to local law enforcement. Of course this time, there isn't the possibility Annalise will kick down a door and dismember whoever who has taken him prisoner at the moment. There seem like a lot of moments where Ray could easily have been killed, as there's at least one magic user involved that is well beyond his skills, but he seems to luck out. Some of that is planning - Ray is not a genius, but he may have spent enough time around criminals to know how they think - and some of it just seems to be he stumbles into a potential trap when there's no one there to spring it.
Connolly has Ray constantly debating how willing he is to kill people when they've fallen under the "sapphire dog's" control. He doesn't kill someone, they raise an alarm, someone else gets sacrificed in a summoning, Ray feels guilty about it. Ray is very aware that Annalise wouldn't hesitate, would indifferently kill anyone who got in the way of her mission, including Ray. He comments on this more than once. Combined with the fact she's equally clear that he's an ultimately expendable asset of hers, it's just weird that Connolly writes Ray as being so relieved when Annalise does finally arrive late in the story. Like Ray's developed some weird dependency on her.
Could be intentional, along with Ray being written as excited to get contacted for a mission. A sign that one of the things Annalise put on him, along with all the various protections, makes him unconsciously reliant or malleable to her. I don't think that's it. I think it's meant to be that Ray is developing a taste for this work, but is at least of aware of his own limitations.
'"I also want safe passage out of the country and your personal assurance that you will not try to kill me or any of my descendants, ever."
"Do you want my left foot, too?"
"If your left foot is of value, then yes, I want it. I want everything a man can want."'
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