Thursday, September 17, 2020

May Day

If the murderer you’re tracking is a vampire, then you want a vampire detective. Just maybe not this one.

May Day is the first book in Josie Jaffrey’s Seekers series, an urban fantasy series set in Oxford, England.

Book source ~ The Write Reads Tour
9 July 2020
Urban Fantasy | Mystery
388 Pages

My Rating ~ 4 bites and a nibble

Jacquelyn ”Jack” Valentine was 18 when she was turned into a vampire. Or Silver as they are called here. For 20 years she’s been working as a Seeker in Oxford. Seekers are part of the Silver police force and their job is to keep other Silver from bringing attention to their community. Humans are not supposed to know about Silver. Period. When a human is killed by a Silver in a very public manner (and not the first in a series of murders) the Oxford Seekers are on it. Then the London higher ups come to town and take over because they believe the murder is tied to their cases from London. Or is it? There is some shady shit going on and Jack’s team is stuck stepping in it. 

Vampire detective isn’t a new thing, but who says it has to be new to be good? Jack is a great character. Brilliant at ferreting out clues and putting them together, but totally self-destructive personally. What a mess she is. And her hatred for the Oxford Baron, Killian Drake, is single-minded to the point of career suicide. Killian is a great villain, if you want to call him that. I’m not really sure at this point if he’s on anyone’s side except his own long-lived self. He’s fascinating and irritating.

There is some serious underhanded crap going on. There’s intrigue and mystery galore. There’s the whole who-can-you-trust paranoia. There’s also a murder to solve. And the icing on the cake is the personal life of Jack and how she just careens through her days and nights doing her job and making a mess of her personal life. She’s like a train wreck you can’t look away from and it’s glorious. I mean, a train wreck isn’t glorious. It’s just that Jack is a hot mess. Hell, you know what I mean. Anyway, to top it all off with a giant cherry is that ending. Holy shit. I can’t wait to grab book 2 when it comes out.

Josie Jaffrey
I have always written stories, but it wasn't until I started the first book in the Solis Invicti series in 2014 that I really became obsessed with writing. I love to read, particularly where the escapism of the story is enhanced with an element of fantasy or science fiction. For me, writing is simply an extension of that journey, but I get to decide what happens next (though it's amazing how often the characters seem to decide for themselves what I'm going to write!).

I love to hear from readers, so please do get in touch through my website or via Twitter.


No comments:

Post a Comment