Crosstime fantasy, readable. ( )

Another urban fantasy set in San Francisco - set in several San Franciscos in fact. Parallel worlds/multiverse stories have always fascinated me, and while this has far fewer swords than Moorcock, the characters are vivid and the adventures kept me up far later than I planned to read. ( )

Love on the Run is the fourth Nola O'Grady adventure and, as they say, the plot thickens. From the first, these books have stood in my mind above the usual urban fantasy by the complexity of the world building. Nola is a paranormal investigator for the Apocalyse Squad, a branch of a super-secret agency; her sweetheart, Israeli Interpol agent Ari, is by no means mundane, and her large extended family is variously gifted and not always on the right side of the law on this and several other Earths. The multiplicity of parallel worlds remind me strongly of some of my favorite early Andre Norton science fiction novels, particularly the radioactive, gang-ridden version of San Francisco and the wet Venus with a single moon, home to intelligent, psychic squids. With each book, the universe has gotten larger, as new alternate worlds, new characters, species, and tensions have been introduced. Kerr is far too imaginative and thoughtful a writer to ignore the interwoven connections, implications, and nuances of even a "simple" story. As a result, each book elaborates established elements and introduces new ones. Now the threads are coming together, and we see the connections between Nola's eating disorder, Ari's childhood in a seriously warped New Age kibbutz, or why the Peacock Angel is a force of evil in one dimension but a power for good in another. The result kicks the story impact up exponentially. "Love On The Run" is the perfect title because the romance, although present and continuing to develop, has to take place in moments snatched while dealing with one escalating crisis after another. ( )

The title makes it sound like a romance novel, but it's not. Although Nola O'Grady and Ari Nathan are still working out their relationship, they have much bigger fish (or calamari) to fry, trying to catch terrorists and murderers who are working across world levels.

A worthy continuation of the series, with lots of room for more sequels. ( )