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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Fantastic Return to Form for Special Agent Valchek, October 9, 2011
This review is from: Better Off Undead (The Bloodhound Files, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)
Jace Valchek returns, and is back to form! Hopefully, if you're reading Better Off Undead (the fourth installment in the Bloodhound Files series), you're familiar with the story: FBI Profiler Jace Valchek is sucked into a parallel universe where the paranormal is normal. She needs to catch an insane human serial killer to get her ticket home. Here, as a human, she's an endangered species, but Valchek might just be getting her wolf on. Oh, and she needs to catch an insane werewolf mob boss, too. After a somewhat shaky third installment, Jace is back to kicking butt. She's settled into a life in this world. The Jace/Charlie banter that is the lifeblood of this series is back (it was sorely lacking, for obvious reasons, in Killing Rocks [obvious if you've read it, that is]); Jace is again learning more about Thropirelem, but seeming more at home; Cassius is manouvering. It's GOOD. The best since Dying Bites. In fact, I genuinely think this may be the best in the series so far. Some of my favourite parts of this book were Jace's interactions with her shape-shifting St Bernard, Galahad, and there was another scene involving a very new Lem, Billy Beta, that got me a bit sniffly. The [very obvious] parallels with our own world's civil rights movements work here, and add depth, realism, and *soul* to this series. Readers will also get some satisfaction as the ever-enigmatic Cassius gets even more backstory (there's a LOT of backstory when you're two thousand years old), and his relationship with Jace develops further. On an aside: Cassius is fascinating, and I would have thought I'd enjoy seeing more of him--which is exactly what we got in Killing Rocks. While Cassius is (very) present in this installment, he's not half as ubiquitous as he was in the previous, and I enjoy his scenes all the more for the waiting. These books are brilliantly plotted. They have tight episodic storylines, but the overarching story arc throughout the series is also brilliant. They're constantly reminding me of a TV series (Fringe!). Individual episodes, but a much larger story arc. You can tell DD Barant is a TV Writer, and it works. I haven't enjoyed a series so much without reservations in a long time.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
More?, October 16, 2011
*Some Spoilers* I was excited about the new book and had it on my upcoming books list, but felt it had been so long since the last book that I first reread the prior three books. 1. YAY about Jace's relationship with Cassius! We finally see some major action at the very end! I'll admit that I didn't quite know where the book was heading with the inoculation idea and the initial episode. It made more sense by the end as things started getting tied together. But... I wanted MORE than the one event before Cassius got busy with work. What happens next? Will the relationship continue to evolve? 2. Soooo... is it common knowledge that the video footage made a percentage of pires/thropes nuts? It seemed like NSA top secret level knowledge to me rather than public knowledge. Or maybe it's hard to hide the crazies and easy to figure where it originated from. This tiny detail just bothered me a bit. 3. We see more to Charlie! His opinions and knowledge, more about lem construction and rights. It follows nicely from the last book actually, which I thought seemed oddly different since it didn't move the overarching plot line from the previous two books. 4. Gretchen seemed a bit uneven of a character to me. She's first nice with a great dry humor, she's overprotective of her daughter (especially after the kidnapping of her newborn), and now she's a bit cold/cruel (also related to the overprotectiveness of her daughter)? I'm not sure I like her as much anymore... although undead "life" hasn't been very kind to her recently. Overall... the crime/detective plot remains a real part of the book which is great! It seemed a bit less tight to me because I can usually pick up on clues and sorta figure out where the author might be headed... and I'm not sure I "got" any clues along the way although it makes sense after I finished the book. It's more fulfilling to anticipate where the plot will go and get the surprise in the climax... I just wasn't entirely sure. It's a good book and definitely moves some things along... just not the initial plot line that will get the main character home. So I wouldn't really agree that this is the best book yet. I definitely liked the first and second books more for moving the overarching plot... this book moves along the Dr. Pete/Tair plot line, which is mostly okay to me. Aristotle Stoker, where did you go in this book and what are you up to?? :)
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better Off Undead, January 5, 2012
This review is from: Better Off Undead (The Bloodhound Files, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)
I read prodigiously but rarely write reviews. I've just finished the first four books in DD Barant's Bloodhound Series and found them very enjoyable (this after several months reading inexpensive, self-published Kindle fantasies and nearly giving up reading due to poor story-telling). Special Agent Jace Valchek is a resourceful FBI profiler with a hard-boiled, irreverent exterior, working to keep her moral compass aligned properly in an alternate universe where humans are an endangered species. The story-telling is entertaining, the characters engaging, and the questions of right and wrong complex enough to give a bit of depth to the mix. I recommend this series to anyone who also likes Harry Dresden or the Nightside.
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