Cry Wolf

Cry Wolf (2008) Patricia Briggs

I really like Patricia Briggs writing, so when I saw she had a new book coming, I ordered it without knowing anything about it.

CryWolf is set in the same world as her Mercy series, and many of the characters carry over, although Mercy does not make an appearance. Which is a good thing, since I think the series needed to be able to stand alone. We also learned about the Marrock’s pack from an outsiders point of view, rather than Mercy’s, which made it very different. Samuel made a brief appearance, but not a large appearance, which I liked, because he has been a major character in the Mercy series.

As with the Mercy books, the characters are distinct and well developed, although much of that may come from most of the characters having made an appearance in the Mercy books. One thing I liked was that we learned more about the characters who have made brief appearances in the Mercy series. The Marrock was a major character, and we learned quite a bit about his past, which I found fascinating.

And of course we spend lots of time with Charles and Anna.

However, I had one major problem with the book. I spent the entire book feeling like I had missed the first part of the story. I kept checking to see if there was a book before this. Nope. Was this something that happened in one of the Mercy books? I don’t think so. So why does it feel like I’m missing something?

Because there was a short story that came before this.

That’s not so good. The first book in a series should be able to stand on its own, without making you feel like you’ve missed something. Was it anything glaring? No. Just a general feeling as I read the book that I was completely missing something.

But what was even more annoying is I own the collection the story is in, but hadn’t gotten around to reading it yet.

So like her other books, it was a very good story with very good characters, but lost points for the nagging feeling that I was missing something. If you like Patricia Brigg’s Mercy series, then you’ll want to pick up Cry Wolf. Just be aware that if you haven’t read the short story, you may feel like you’re missing something.

Rating: 7/10

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