This is currently my favorite Urban Fantasy series, having displaced Kim Harrsion's Hollows books after the lackluster last outing in that series. To some extent Andrews has followed Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden formula -- introduce the character, have a few introductory adventures to build the supporting cast and get a feel for the lead's capabilities and issues and then start to open up the series "meta plot" as the character faces wider issues.
Kate is a very appealing, snarky character who lives in an intriguing world where magic rises and falls in tides which have greatly disrupted (but not destroyed -- people cope) our civilization. Were-hyenas and vampires may roam Atlanta, but people still eat grits and cornbread. For reasons that are finally becoming more clear in this book, Kate has long been a loner, a mercenary who solves magical problems, but in the first book she started to come out of her shell, and that has continued over the next two books and into this one as she gains friends and allies.
In my opinion, the love interest is well handled as well. It's been obvious from book one what's going to happen, but Andrews is in no hurry, and has been content to keep Curran as (a very effective) supporting character rather than letting him drive out all the other supporting characters. This lets Kate have satisfying emotional connections apart from her supposed love interest (her final scene with Bran in the previous book for instance) and differentiates the series from "Supernatural Romance".
The ending of this book pretty much tears the veil off Kate's self-imposed low profile and sets things up for a major confrontation in the coming books.
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