Just Finished Reading: Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

Mercy Thompson is a hard working mechanic in modern day America. What most of her clients don’t know is that she’s also a supernatural creature. She’s what the Native Americans call a skin-walker, a shape-shifter who can change at will into a Coyote. This comes in handy when dealing with her nearest neighbour (and would be lover) who is also the Alpha of the local werewolf pack. Mercy lives in too worlds, the natural everyday and the supernatural. Times however are a changing. Some of the magical creatures that have always been with us are making themselves public. First the Fae, who hide behind their storybook image, and lately the werewolves who portray themselves to the public as heroes in war and the emergency services. But there is another group who have no intention of going public. Vampires have every reason to keep in hiding and even more reason to stop anyone from breaking their silence. Into this explosive mix comes a new vampire with insatiable needs to cause death and chaos. Although newly made he holds a secret of his life before he was turned. Before joining the ranks of the undead he was a sorcerer already inhabited by a demon. A demon who is determined to bring Hell to small town America unless the local vampires can stop him and continue hiding in the shadows – and to do this they need Mercy’s help, help that will reveal part of her kinds history and also reveal why the vampires are so afraid of her.

This was the second book in the Mercedes Thompson series and lived up to the expectations resulting from the first book. Good characterisation, a consistent plot and an interesting larger situation into which the action was placed produced a real page turner. Modern urban fantasy is a huge genre populated by a plethora of sassy females whose task it seems to be to save the world on a regular basis - Buffy Summers certainly has a lot to answer for. This is only the second Briggs books I’ve ever read and I am very impressed so far – I already own the third book in the series and the first book of another series by her so you’ll be hearing from Ms Briggs again I assure you. If you’re a fan of modern fantasy with strong female leads or just want to try out the genre for the first time I can certainly recommend this series as a good place to start. You won’t be disappointed.