City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Fifteen year old Clary Fray expects nothing other than a normal night when she heads to a local New York City club with her friend Simon.  She definitely doesn't expect to see someone murdered by three tattooed teenagers in the club's store room.  And she is even more surprised when the body disappears into thin air.

This is Clary's first encounter with Shadowhunters.  Their job is to make sure downworlders (demons, vampires, etc.) don't get out of control.  Usually mundanes, ordinary people, can't see them and they are as equally surprised as Clary when they discover that she can see their dealings with the demon.

Clary is quickly thrown into the world of Shadowhunters when her mother is attacked and kidnapped by a demon. Determined to find her mother and to find out why she can suddenly see this whole new world, Clary embarks on a mission to discover the truth.

My Thoughts:
The Mortal Instruments series has been in my "to read" pile for a while.  I kept hearing how great the series was, but I just wasn't very interested.  I picked up this first book because I wanted to have at least read the first in the series before the movie comes out in August.  Maybe the story gets better as the books progress, but I had a very hard time getting into it.  To be fair, there are four more books in the series and the story definitely has potential to improve.  While the book wasn't my favorite, I am very eager to see it on the big screen.  I have a feeling that this is one of those rare books that I will like better as a movie.