2024 paranormal fantasy, second novel of its series. Bunny Barrington,
involuntary vampire and new-made police in a tiny supernatural town in
Alaska, works to track down the source of a strange new drug.
I very much enjoyed the first book, but perhaps because it
doesn't have as much worldbuilding to do this one often feels as
though it's marking time. Yes, the mystery is satisfying, even if
these trained or naturally talented investigators haven't got the
basic concept of including everyone in the pool of suspects until
there's a reason to take them out of it; but there's also a drip here
and there of why Bunny got turned and what makes her Not Like Other
Vampires, and this is clearly the long-term plot of the series and so
can't be allowed out too quickly. Meanwhile I can't help feeling that
the actual solution to the crime (rngvat gur ebthr HF trareny jub'f
grfgvat purzvpnyf ba gur gbja va gur ubcr bs znxvat fhcrefbyqvref)
would have ramifications beyond "OK, problem over now".
Still, the main body of the book is crime-solving, and there's a
reasonable blend of investigation and action. Not the pleasant
surprise that the first book was, but it gets the job done and I'll
at least try one more in the series.
Comments on this post are now closed. If you have particular grounds for adding a late comment, comment on a more recent post quoting the URL of this one.