After her rather public exposure last book, Jessica
receives an offer from the Gryphons – they want her to work with them as a
consultant, using her unique gifts to catch criminals. For which she will be
paid a generous salary – and not go to prison. It’s less an offer and more a
demand with menaces.
And part of her “unique gifts” involve exploiting her friendship and connections with the satyrs – who are currently prime suspects in a series of grizzly, sex related murders.
The satyrs are not happy about this, nor overly happy
with Jessica. And Jessica may finally be getting her dream job – but can she
live with the strings attached? And is that her dream any more, especially as
she learns more and more about what she is and the source of those
oh-so-mysterious powers.
When reviewing a series that continues good elements it
can be hard to write reviews of second and later books. I mean, how often can
you write about the same world that continues to be compelling, unique and
interesting? Ultimately it’s repetitive – but if the goodness keeps on going
from book to book to book, then shouldn’t it continue to be mentioned? If you
take the “good” as a given and only mention any new badness then your review
looks negative undeservedly
This is my long winded way of trying to excuse being
repetitive – because what I have to say about world building and story for this
book are the same as for the first book. They’re unique, deep and fascinating.
The pacing is excellent, the mystery very well drawn out and balanced; action
scenes blend well with character building and exploration. Mental monologues
provide enough information to both feel the world and the characters’ place
within it without swamping out the actual activity. The plot is twisty without
being twisted and complex without being convoluted
All of this is wonderfully shot through with some really
good complexity that adds so much depth to the world building. Yes there are
sexy satyrs – but the consequences and realities of sexy satyrs are considered.
We’re not supposed to lust over them, we’re supposed to see their moral
ambiguity in their powers, the exploitation and the fearsome control they have
over people
We see a police force that is intrusive and gets in the
way and we’re not just thinking of ways to cover it up – but asking questions
about what’s being covered up, how to negotiate around the Gryphons and not
just falling into the trap of demonising them
The whole thing has layers and complexities all with an
exciting story with lots of twists back and forth to sell the whole thing. There’s
a lot of good here
Jessica is a very real character to me and one that is
surprisingly lacking in tropes – she has good friends (and female friends at
that!), a supportive family (even if she isn’t as close as she’d like). She has
a lot of moral conflicts, a lot of growth and some very reasonable flaws – even
flaws that make me kind of not like her at times, but are very real to her
character: Like the Satyrs
