First rule in this line of business: don’t sleep with the client.
My name’s Kate Kane, and when an eight-hundred-year-old vampire prince came to me with a case, I should have told her no. But I’ve always been a sucker for a femme fatale.
It always goes the same way. You move too fast, you get in too deep, and before you know it, someone winds up dead. Last time it was my partner. This time it could be me. Yesterday a werewolf was murdered outside the Velvet, the night-time playground of one of the most powerful vampires in England. Now half the monsters in London are at each other’s throats, and the other half are trying to get in my pants. The Witch Queen will protect her own, the wolves are out for vengeance, and the vampires are out for, y’know, blood.
I’ve got a killer on the loose, a war on the horizon, and a scotch on the rocks. It’s going to be an interesting day.
Review:
I laughed out loud, or as the kids say "lolled", lots throughout this book. At one point my partner came to make sure I wasn't having conniptions.
Kate Kane is a Paranormal Investigator in London. She smokes and drinks heavily. In this first novel, she is hired by an eight-hundred-year-old vampire prince, Julian Saint-Germain, to investigate the murder of a werewolf outside one of Julian's clubs.
The vampire prince, a female vampire to Kate's surprise, is of course smoking hot. Things naturally get complicated when Kate feels herself wanting to violate the first rule of being a PI - don't sleep with the client.
The blurb makes it sound like there's a lot going on - vampires, werewolves, witches - but Alexis Hall does a great job of not making it a mess. It was logical and easy to follow despite the large cast of players.
Kate's sense of humour is right up my alley - it's black, self-deprecating, and sweary, which combined with the pure fantastical nature of the novel adds a high degree of levity. For example, there is a scene in a sewer and Kate is admiring the Victorian construction:
"The Victorians might have been a bunch of mass-murdering, misogynistic fuckheads, but they sure knew how to build a shit pipe."
The romance between Kate Kane and Julian Saint-Germain is good. We get a lot of detail about Kate's internal struggles, her past failures and mistakes, and we do find out a lot about Julian's pre-vamp days, which is pretty cool. However, this novel is predominately driven by the external narrative of monsters picking people off. Because monsters.
The romance between Kate Kane and Julian Saint-Germain is good. We get a lot of detail about Kate's internal struggles, her past failures and mistakes, and we do find out a lot about Julian's pre-vamp days, which is pretty cool. However, this novel is predominately driven by the external narrative of monsters picking people off. Because monsters.
Hands down the funniest book I've read this year. Yes, I know it's only January.
Do not read this book if you don't like gore, profanity or lesbian sex.
Do read this book if you do like the above.
You should follow Alexis Hall on Twitter: @quicunquevult
And check out his blog: Quicunque Vult
More Information:
Author: Alexis Hall
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Publishing Date: 16 Dec, 2013
Length: Novel (77k)
Genre: Paranormal/Romance
Type: f/f
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