"Moon Called" by Patricia Briggs is an urban fantasy set in Eastern Washington; the Tri-Cities more specifically. It's about a shape shifter auto mechanic by the name of Mercy Thompson. She's friends with werewolves, fae and even a vampire. Not belonging to any of these supernatural groups, however, makes Mercy an outsider. When a werewolf without a pack shows up at her garage needing a meal and a job, Mercy is brought into a murder mystery where the killers are experimenting on werewolves.
Stories told from the first person narrative are usually hit or miss depending on the protagonist, but this book had a very well drawn one that I like. The mystery was engaging in the sense that it was difficult to determine who was doing what and why.
But, when introducing a new character the author caused the action to grind to a halt by giving a page to two pages of back story. There was a few points where I found myself skimming this back story in order to get back to the exciting part of the story the author had taken time out from.
When it seemed that the mystery had been explained and the heroes were trying to stop the antagonist, the real reasons for the antagonists actions come to light and it was, in a word, LAME. I wished it was the other explanation, not what the author actually came up with. To be honest it felt like she had written herself into a hole and then had to scramble to come up with a good explanation for it all.
I'm torn because Mercy Thompson is a very interesting character and I'd like to see where her storyline goes, but the author didn't impress me much. I'm hoping the next few are better, maybe the pauses for back story would be less and the mysteries a bit more complex but I don't know if I want to spend the money to find out.
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