Title: Dead Heat
Author: Patricia Briggs
Pages: 324
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal
Source: Library ebook
Rating: B
Summary: Charles and Anna travel to Scottsdale, AZ to visit his old friend Joseph. While visiting, Joseph’s daughter-in-law is spelled by a dangerous fae who collects children and uses them up. They discover that a little girl has been missing for months, her place taken by a fetch, leaving no one the wiser. With the help of Cantrip and the local pack, Charles and Anna hunt down the fae in the hopes of rescuing the girl and making sure the fae can never hurt another child.
Review: It must be said that Patricia Briggs is one of my favorite authors. Much like Charlaine Harris’ work, Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series, and this spin-off – Alpha and Omega, feel comfortable and homey to me. Some books blow your mind, and some books provide a warm, comfy escape. Briggs’ worlds are the latter for me.
This is not her best work. There was no point at which I felt tense or scared or anything really visceral, except when Charles and Anna are together. But their relationship is something I feel very connected to in each of her stories, and with that as a touchstone, I always feel grounded in the story she is telling.
The story itself was a bit on the soft side, at least when compared to some of her other work. The twist seemed quite obvious to me early on, to the point where I kept thinking that maybe it was an intentional misdirect, but it wasn’t. But the familiarity, and the storytelling (outside of the less than subtle clues) were sufficiently entertaining.
While I’ve not read anything of her high fantasy series, Patricia Briggs never disappoints. Anytime I hear she has something new out from the Alpha and Omega series or the Mercy Thompson series, I’m the first in line to get my hands on it. Tried and true, Patricia Briggs’ stories are something I can depend on for comfort and satisfaction, and that’s not sayin’ nothin’.