City of Bones

This was Cassandra Clare's first novel and also the first in her "Mortal Instruments" series for young adults. Clare, nee Judith Rumelt, was born  to American parents in Tehran and had a peripatetic childhood accompanying her parents all over the globe. Our protagonist, 15-year-old Clary Fray, is hanging with her friend Simon at a club in Manhattan that caters to the under 21 crowd when she sees a beautiful young woman being followed by a handsome young man into a storage room inside the club. What worries her though are the two young men dressed in black who follow the couple. What she discovers when she investigates is going to turn her world upside down. She witnesses a murder and then sees the body disappear into thin air...who would believe her if she reported that to the police? She has just seen her first demon and the Shadowhunters who want to drive them from the planet. When Clary returns home, she finds the apartment ransacked and her mother missing; then she is attacked by a horrible giant centipede-like monster.  Clary flees to The Institute, where the Shadowhunters live. Clary is frantic to find her mother and comes to believe that the Shadowhunters are the only way to do that. But her mother has kept a lot of secrets from Clary--ones that put not just her mother's but Clary's life in danger. Her mother's best friend may not be who she thought he was either, and her father may not be dead after all. It might have been better for everyone if he were. A thoroughly entertaining read, not diminished at all by the YA focus. Perfect for fantasy fans of any age.