Tuesday 7 July 2009

Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs


"'It wasn't hard to follow the scent of blood to the living room where the fae had been killed. It had been a violent death, perfect for creating ghosts.'

Mercy Thompson enjoys life as a mechanic, but life is never simple given her increasing closeness to the local werewolf pack, and her ability to change into coyote form at will. And when a member of the fae community calls in a favour, needing her skills for a covert murder investigation, she jumps into the hunt. But the dangers multiply and she clashes with shadowed creatures of great power. When her old boss Zee is charged with a brutal assassination, Mercy find herself fighting alone. There are those who love her, who would keep her safe, but she is wary and holds her freedom precious. Until, that is, she has nothing left to lose but her life ..."


Mercy is spending a relaxing evening with her friend (and werewolf) Warren and his boyfriend Kyle watching a movie, when she gets a call from her former boss and mentor Zee. He's fae and he needs her nose to sniff out a killer in the fae reservation. Taking Mercy in there isn't all that safe for her, but she agrees to help and soon enough picks up the trail.

But before the killer can be taken care of quietly, someone beats the fae to it, and Zee finds himself behind bars and accused of the murder. A murder too violent for human hands. One Mercy is convinced Zee didn't commit and she's determined to prove it. Not an easy job though. The Grey Lords (rulers of the fae) don't like outside help and they're very dangerous people to deal with. And all the while she's having to fight with her heart of the men in her life, Adam or Samuel. She can't keep bouncing between the two dominant wolves or things are going to get messy.

Iron Kissed is a fantastic follow up to the first two books in the Mercy series, Moon Called and Blood Bound, and the series just keeps getting better. As with Blood Bound, there is a very good balance between the romance and the main plot, even though there is more romance in this than the previous book.

Where the previous book taught us a lot about vampires in Mercy's world, here we're shown the fae world and get a deeper look at the pack and how it functions again. The extensive world built is engaging and well thought out. There aren't extras added on all the time, just Mercy discovering more of it. And it doesn't pull any punches. It gets nasty at the end as the killer is revealed. And the conversations near the end, particularly between Ben and Adam, show real sensitivity and strength, and the depth of Ms. Briggs' talent. It was heart wrenching, in some ways beautiful, intense and left me in floods of tears. The cliffhanger ending left me desperate for me and I was very, very glad I had book 4 sat on the shelf beside me already!

Rating: 10/10

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