Technically, Patricia Brigg’s Mercy Thompson series has been on my radar for some time; those who know me kept insisting I read them. And, wouldn’t you know, when I finally got around to it I ended up devouring the first two (with the third in progress) in a matter of days.
Moon Called
1st in the Mercy Thompson series
Mercedes Thompson is no stranger to the supernatural world; she was raised by werewolves, worked as a mechanic for a fae before buying the garage off him, and keeps a vampire’s van running. Mercy herself is a Walker – she can shift into a coyote at will. So it’s really no wonder when she gets sucked into the middle of werewolf politics and finds herself chasing down a rogue pack that kidnapped the local Alpha’s young daughter.
One thing Briggs is particularly skilled at is handling a large cast of characters and imbuing them all with individual personalities. Mercy is a fine heroine; smart, pragmatic, and stubborn enough to admire. And the others, all of the werewolves and vampires, are just as interesting. Pair them with a plot that maintains a nice level of tension and you’ve got a fantastic start to a series. Which led me to…
Blood Bound
2nd in the Mercy Thompson series
This time around, Mercy finds herself repaying a favor, one she owed to her friend Stefan, the van driving vampire. A new super-charged vamp is in town and Stefan gets sent as the welcoming committee, but when things don’t go as planned, Mercy has to extricate Stefan and his seethe from a vampiric meltdown that might put all of humankind in great danger.
In Blood Bound the tension is amped up and the pacing is a fast clip that will have you scrambling to turn the pages. Vampire politics take center stage here, as does Mercy’s friendship with Stefan, and both were big draws for this reader. Because I absolutely had to find out how it would end, I stayed up far too late, and yawned my way through most of the next day. Was it worth it? You bet!
I have now moved onto the third book in the series, Iron Kissed, which focuses on Mercy’s relationship with her former boss, Zee, as she tries to prove he didn’t commit the murder he’s been accused of.
