Jane hasn’t exactly been on Evan Trueblood’s Christmas card list lately. So when he shows up out of the blue, something must be wrong. Molly has gone missing, neither one of them can trace her, and there’s something fishy up with black magic, witches, and vampires. Because, of course.

When Jane discovers Molly may have been abducted by and is being fed from/controlled by a vampire there in New Orleans, she has to figure out who is holding her captive before it’s too late. As usual, the world-building and detective procedural aspect of Faith Hunter’s books is top notch. Loved the continuing development of things with Jane/Leo post-forced feeding. That story line has continued to evolve in interesting ways. And that scene with the fight between first Bruiser/Leo, then Jane/Leo and the reveals about Leo’s motivations for the last few books, and his new Primo? Plus we’ve got some development on the front of Jane’s love triangle front in the form of another werecat coming in the scene and parading in front of Rick LaFleur’s nose. Poor Jane. Looks like Bruiser may be the guy! And ooo… was not expecting the reveal about Reach! Faith Hunter, you master plotter, you. This series just gets better with every book. Now Jane will have to use the information she gets from the Master of the City so that she and Evan can rescue Molly before it’s too late. This one was fantastic!

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
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I enjoy this series as a whole, it has a new and interesting take on the old skinwalker ideology and all the trappings of a good urban fantasy. The writing is irreverent and the lead just as much so, and I love a little snark in any unlikeley/unwilling hero. I think that the tone of Jane's "voice" is far more reasonable than some other characters I've read, except in the areas of personal relationships and responsibilities. The views are skewed harshly in those two areas, and while her past makes a lot of that reasonable, it can be a bit weighing on the reader to see her constantly taking the blame on herself for the actions of others.

Another area where this character is lacking, in my opinion, is her nature to allow others to escape responsibility for their actions and numerous infractions against her. Rick is a perfect example of that. He trampled her heart and emotions from the very beginning. He used her in every way possible and then he betrayed her in nearly every way a man can, yet she forgives and excuses his actions repeatedly. In the end he swore to have learned his lesson about womanizing at least twice that I know of, once when he received his spelled tats, and once when he became a were. Moreover he swore that he was not going to betray her again, yet he dropped her like she meant nothing in a very public forum. I am hoping that she has learned to choose better company in the future. Bruiser and even Leo would have been better choices for her, at least they were both honest about their offerings and limitations.

As to Rick, I literally despise him as a character. He has only one redeeming quality, that he is/was dedicated to being a LEO, but that is redeeming in only a very limited way; after all he was willing to interrogate a small child in the guise of friendship, which is completely despicable. He is amoral, selfish, rude, and has an ugly soul. I hope he suffers in the new series, long and hard, because he uses and betrays the trust of everyone he meets and deserves to reap the rewards of that behavior. I won't find out if he gets what he deserves because I refuse to read a series where he features prominently, but I can hope that some justice is served. If he shows back up in this series I hope Bruiser delivers on the unspoken threats that have loomed between them since the beginning. ( )

Now. Now we're getting somewhere.

Still down the guilt rabbit hole for the first six books, but now we have serious character growth, and that's bloody fab. ( )

Another winner from Faith Hunter. Molly her best friend is missing, she and crew work to find her, plus more missing vamps, while dealing with vamp politics and drama. Jane works to come to grips with who and what she is and has done. So much going on. Love Molly and Evan's kids.
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I was hoping Jane would have a little romance this book but no such luck. She did go through quite a catharsis as did some of the others that I was not disappointed. So many changes took place and really in my opinion most for the better. I won't give any spoilers but now I really want to read the next book and don't want to wait a year! ( )