A Toronto ex-cop with night blindness and decreasing peripheral vision, turned private investigator, finds herself hunting a demon. It's a compellingy told first entry in a vampire series. My only complaint is that there were some weird typos and spelling mistakes, e.g., MacDonald's for McDonald's and I Dream of Genie instead of Jeannie. I'm pissy like that, though.
My favorite elements of this amateur sleuth story are the examples of progressive/feminist/lesbian political collective culture of the time, like everyone automatically saying no to being fingerprinted to help the cops identify a vandal.
After how much I enjoyed Brigg's last Alpha and Omega novel, I was disappointed that this one was more like the first full-length novel in the series, in that the author seemed to be more in love with the idea of the dynamic of the relationship than in telling a story.
I read this dude-penned book because my dad recommended it and because the next book in the series includes an encounter with Jennifer Miller, a favorite performer of mine and the person who conducted my wedding ceremony.
You may recall that I was disappointed with the first full-length installment in Briggs's Alpha and Omega series. Well, PtL the second novel was up to the high standard Briggs set with her Mercy Thompson books.
After becoming enamored of Ms. McGuire's Newsflesh trilogy (written as Mira Grant), and to keep me busy until NYPL got around to acquiring the final installment, I was gaga to bury myself in her October Daye series, about a half-fae detective. As usual, my high expectations ruined things for me. Or, pretty likely, Toby just isn't half as interesting as George and Shaun.
I was stoked to pick this up at the library after waiting several weeks for it and after having read the short story that launched the Alpha and Omega series. I bet you know where I'm going with this. Cry Wolf was a disappointment. It did a lot more telling than showing and was overly impressed with the Omega wolf magic of radiating calm. I've found Briggs to be a creative and intelligent writer, but this one felt like her apprentice wrote it based on Briggs' outline and characters.
It might be time for me to stop reading so much romancey paranormal fiction. I'm becoming impatient with the bad writing. I just tried to get into a literary novel, and I couldn't, so I guess I just have to be choosier about the genre fiction I pick up. So yeah, The Vampire Shrink, while not terrible, tempted me to put it down on several occasions.
I'm claiming credit for this one even though I didn't finish it. I got more than halfway through it before deciding it wasn't worth investing any more time in. I suspect Reichs's writing gets better as she progresses through the 20+ book series, but in the first installment of the inspiration for TV's Bones the author is trying too hard--to be funny and clever. My favorite aspect of the novel and character is the clear feminism and gender consciousness.
First of all, thank you St. Paul Public Library for owning this small-press, originally self-published mystery and sharing it with me via Interlibrary Loan.
The protagonist is the ultimate anti-heroine, a fat, middle-aged Black lady. She's smart, capable, self-deprecating but not too, and has the obligatory detective novel quirky pet, a green cat named Seamus.
