2010 modern fantasy novelette, prequel to the Kate Daniels series.
Kate the mercenary gets a short-notice, high-paying bodyguard job, for
a particularly repulsive client.
This is a short and straightforward piece, giving a retroactive
introduction to a couple of characters we'll in the series proper, but
without being too knowing about what they'll get up to later. It
doesn't obviously break continuity with the rest of the series; it's
while Kate is still successfully keeping her background a secret, and
that's not broken here.
There are some monsters from Russian folklore for Kate to fight, and
plenty of room for her no-nonsense attitude, effectively contrasted
with someone who probably thinks of himself as a good person but…
isn't.
But that's about it, really. There's no room for the emotional
complexity that characterises the later books; it's a straightforward
tale of supernatural adventure in an interesting setting.
So it's probably best treated as a spoiler-free taster. If you're
wondering about whether to read the series, try this and see if you
like the writing style, bearing in mind that the plotting and
characterisation here are good-but-basic, and get better in the
full-length books.
Available
free online.
For paper purchasers, this in the anthologies Dark and Stormy
Knights and Magic Graves, as well as in some editions of Magic
Bites.
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