Dead Heat

Dead Heat (2015) Patricia Briggs

Despite the lack of Asil, I do love this story.

The Arabians might not suit you; they don’t suit everyone. They are like cats: vain, beautiful, and intelligent. But you deal well enough with Asil, who is also vain, beautiful, and intelligent.

Charles receives a call from his friend Joseph–who he hasn’t seen for 20 years, and realizes he’s been putting off visiting because Joseph is old, and that loss is going to be hard for Charles.

“I don’t say good-bye very easily, Anna. Not gracefully or prettily. Good-bye tears your heart out and leaves it a feast for carrion birds who happen by.”

But he realizes he wants to see Joseph, so takes Anna to visit, on the excuse of buying her a horse from Joseph’s family business.

One of the things I particularly like about this book is how well the kids are done. Mackie and Michael talk and act like pre-schoolers, and Max is a teenager–although I do admit a relatively well-balanced one.

“My husband doesn’t like to be left behind. But if we take him with us, the bad things will all run away and it won’t be any fun.”

“Your husband is a werewolf, too?”

“Yes.”

“If he scares away our prey, he’ll have to stay home,” Mackie said.

Anna grinned. “Right. He’d ruin our fun. But maybe it would make him feel bad not to be included.”

“If he cries, you just have to explain it to him.” Mackie said wisely.

“Mackie,” said Max reprovingly.

“Max,” she said in the same tone.

“Both of you shut up,” Michael told them, still staring at the TV. “The shark is coming.”

I also adore Joseph, who is complicated and lovable.

“In the old days they’d have kissed my cheek and then left me in the desert to die. Then my family would hire some Hopi or white man too stupid to know the dangers of handling the dead to go deal with the body. Now we’re caught between modern ways and the old. If I die here, only fire will keep my evil ghost from making everyone miserable, and they are too rational to do that.”

I also love the law enforcement officers, one of whom we’ve met before, and the other two who are surprisingly decent humans (despite working for CANTRIP).

It also has one of my hands-down favorite lines in any of her books.

He was twelve when he told us he liked boys instead of girls. That was right after some friend of his got kicked out of his home for doing the same. Stupid people tossing away the most precious thing God saw fit to give them, I say.

That woman is actually an awesome character all around.

He paused, then looked at his mother with horror. “The flea bath. You gave a werewolf a flea bath. He was not happy about it. No wonder Dad was so upset when he got home.”

“He had fleas,” she said primly. “I wasn’t letting him sleep in your room with fleas.”

The story itself is good, although difficult at times, as it deals with a creature that spent centuries kidnapping children. But we don’t see anything terrible happen to the children on the page, otherwise I probably couldn’t stand it.

It’s a good story, and a reminder of why I like this series so much.

Publisher: Ace
Rating: 8.5/10

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