Jack Shepherd,
soldier, weretiger, veteran, is returning home to Dead End, a tiny town in
isolated rural Florida, to handle his dead uncle’s affairs. And his pawn shop
A shop part owned by
Tess, a young woman who is determined to keep the business going, is good at
what she does and has little time for him
Whatever conflicts
they may have can’t be spared any time though when a body appears on the shop’s
doorstep: and it’s not the fist. No-one told Jack how his uncle died.
Looking at this cover
I was struck by an overwhelming sense of Sookie Stackhouse Series.
Now, normally I shy away from comparisons to other book series as it inevitably
tends to cast the books your talking about in a shadow: but I’m going here
because a) I don’t think many authors are going to dispute the dominance of the
Sookie Stackhouse series in the genre and b) I’m comparing favourably
Because it has many
of the interesting themes of that series - the small town and close community
feeling. A character who is very much an every-person without being the
specialist-special-person of supreme Sueness. A world that is extremely
magically diverse with magic and wereanimals and witches and hints of many
things more. It takes a nice small town setting we don’t often see in books (in
this case a pawn shop - and doesn’t that have the chance for so many
supernatural shinies to show up?)
But it also has many
elements that improve the concept: we have characters getting involved in a
murder investigation for an actual legitimate reason rather than just
randomness (considerable suspicion of the law enforcement and their collusion
with the big bad). We have a small town that suggests and actual reason for the
supernatural to be there - with it’s own not-defined-but-often mentioned
independent history and hidden supernatural community suggests there’s a good
reason why the supernatural is here. And a similar reason why outsider
authority doesn’t run in
The world is aware of
the supernatural- but this has been developed into more than “there are
vampires”. There’s suggestion of a broader history, wars, cultural context all
from the revelations of the supernatural to the world (which I believe have
been covered in different books by the same author). But this book very
carefully focuses on the town - we have a wonderful sense of the greater, wider
world but this town is what is relevant at the moment.
Tess isn’t a
character defined by either super powers or Spunky Agency, she rarely makes
decisions that makes me despair and she doesn’t hate all other women! Her best
friend, Molly, is clearly a big part of her life, competent, accomplished and
fun. She loves her aunt and uncle who she lives with (and despite not living
with her parents isn’t overwhelmed by her Tragic Past) and has a fun female
co-worker at the pawn shop (despite her lack of gun skills). She seems to
respect the other characters around her, her neighbours in general and
generally be a pretty decent character rather than use her internal monologue
as a way to try and establish why she doesn’t belong or is superior to those
around her
She and Jack are
pretty much doomed to fall into a relationship and they do have the Obligatory
I-don’t-like-you-because-it’s-a-romance-and-people-who-like-each-other-can’t-fall-in-love.
Why oh why I don’t know but it’s a rule. Romantic partners must hate each other
at least a little. But they get over it and beyond a little unseemly drooling
they manage to work together in a way that maintains respect, isn’t overwhelmed
with attraction when they’re trying to find murderers and manages to avoid both
her doing the “hey I’m going to charge into danger alone and unarmed to show my
strength!” and him avoiding the “I am going to lock you in a small cage to prove
my protective devotion!” tropes.
The story comes
together as an excellent introduction nicely balanced between character
setting, world setting, character build up and setting out how these characters
meet. Since we know where Jack goes from here, this is almost like a prologue
to the main series rather than a book in and of itself, but it works as a
prologue. It sets everything out and lays down the style which is appealling
and gives a real sense of what these books will be, what they’ll be about and
how these characters came to be who they are and how they forged the connection
We have some decent
female characters around Tess as mentioned, but also some racial diversity.
Molly is Asian - and even in her introduction confronts racist challenges with
flare, the local deputy - and designated SENSIBLE law enforcement is a latina
woman and the contact they have in federal supernatural law enforcement a
latino man. We have a town member who Tess knows (like most people in town)
even if she isn’t connected to who is gay and, again, confronts some
stereotyping (though, it has to be said, perhaps it’s a bit idealistic. An
openly gay man being actively involved with his church youth group in the rural
south… maybe he doesn’t face any agro. But I’m inclined to say it’s less
likely). I stress the “prologue” feel to this book again in that I don’t think
it’s possible to say how important any of these characters will be to the main
plot - but the prologue is put together neatly enough to make me think peripheral
characters wouldn’t be introduced expressly if they were to be peripheral.
