Fair Game by Patricia Briggs

Fair Game
Patricia Briggs
Alpha and Omega #3
Published March 6, 2012 by Ace (Penguin)
Paranormal romance
My Goodreads rating: 4 stars

Bite-Sized Reivew
Fair Game, though not my favorite of the Mercy Thompson/Alpha and Omega world, is a good addition to the series and contains some pretty great stuff. Any fans of Mercy or A&O had better get their hands on this one before any more books come out, because it contains a game-changer.

King-Sized Review
After an interesting prologue, Fair Game opens with Anna arguing with Bran. It's a great start to the book, because while the Anna of Cry Wolf would have backed down the second the Marrock expressed a hint of disapproval, now she's able to meet his eyes when other wolves are off cowering in the corner of the room. But now it's not Anna who's having problems; it's Charles. Ever since the werewolves went public, Bran has sent Charles out more and more for cleanup duty, and it's getting to him. To give him something different to focus on, Bran sends Anna to Boston to consult on a criminal case involving a serial killer who's moved up to werewolves.

Most of the plot of this book isn't terribly exciting. Although Anna is the type of person everyone loves without even thinking about it, and it actually works, Charles, who is supposed to be terrifyingly dangerous, spends most of the first three-quarters of the book brooding. It's not very scary. I can sort of see why Charles is supposed to be frightening, but only from the way other people react to him, and it doesn't quite feel real. I think that's because from Mercy's perspective, Charles seems more enigmatic than scary, and obviously he doesn't frighten Anna (at least not anymore).

There are occasionally cordially antagonistic interactions between different investigative departments, investigators and werewolves, witches and werewolves, fae and werewolves, Charles and Anna and local werewolves, and so on that are extremely entertaining, but other than that the book starts off rather slowly, with more discussion of things that have already happened than actual current happenings. When the story picks up, it does so quickly. All sorts of things happen, most of them slightly predictable except for one "holy crap!" moment at the end of the book. That one scene, and you will know it when you see it...ahhh, I can't say anything about it without giving something away. But wow I need the next book now.

Quality: Good
Enjoyability: Good

PNR or UF?
GARS Score: 0.71 (3/2/4/3)
What's a GARS score?

In the same aisle
Queen of Shadows by Dianne Sylvan