3.25 stars Good as far as it goes, but the plot for this story is rather thin and not as well developed as it could have been, especially when the author is adding to an overarching theme (or so it seemed). And a warning too, which proves my point about the plot: this story ends at 88% and the rest is taken up by a preview of Carrington's story: Skim Blood and Savage Verse (which I highly recommend).

I do like Wolf and it would have been nice to see him interact with Jason outside of work and the bedroom more - prove to me these two actually have something worth fighting for. All you gave me is that they like each other's bodies and, nope, sorry, that isn't enough for me. I need more than sex to prove there's a relationship in the offing. More development on theme and characters would have gone a long way to making this an even better read. ( )

This fourth book set in Angel Martinez’s world of Philadelphia’s 77th Precinct with its paranormally defective members focuses on one of the more enigmatic team members, Alex Wolf. I also got to find out a lot more about Wolf’s detective partner, silent lizard-man Krisk, who communicates by text and the odd grunt here or there. This time the intrepid officers face mummified animals, a lonely kitten, and some truly dangerous discoveries. It’s all hands on deck as they have to figure out what’s stalking them before it is too late.

Alex Wolf, who goes by “Wolf” for short, has a somewhat murky past, lives with the woman who adopted him, and still has trouble behaving like a human at times. His interactions with his mother and her attempts to teach him human skills (like ironing his shirts) are hilarious. Wolf works well with the animal control officers, so he is the first to respond to their calls as mummified animal bodies turn up. It gives Wolf ample opportunity to spend time with Jason, one of the animal control officers involved. And as confused as Wolf is about his attraction to the human, he is reluctant to do anything about it. If he even knew what he was supposed to do!

Jason is delightfully unaware of the exact nature of the man he is visibly falling for. But he is not easily scared, and anyway, a man who likes an orphaned kitten enough to take her home can’t be a complete disaster, right? And when he finally asks Wolf out for lunch and finds out the truth, he barely blinks an eye. There are a couple of starts and stops to their romance as Jason battles the reality of their romance and Wolf bumbles along, but the surprising discoveries for both men keep coming and, in the end, they are definitely very hot together.

The main plot around the desiccated animals thickens as the danger grows – and I really can’t reveal much more than that without a huge spoiler. I will say that I loved the improbability of this story as much as that of previous volumes, and the various subplots around the other characters added a lot to my enjoyment as well. Kyle and Kash are back in a big way, and I hope they stay involved in future stories as much as they have been so far. They are such great guys!

If you like the crazy paranormal world of the 77th Precinct and can’t get enough of their amazing adventures, if you want to know how a wolf-man without the finer human graces and an animal control officer manage to figure out they belong together, and if you’re looking for a mystery that is a little darker than previous ones in this series but just as well-constructed, then you will probably like this novella. I definitely look forward to the next one!


NOTE: This book was provided by Pride Publishing for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
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