I was late to the party for both the Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega series; the upside of this being I got to binge read all of them to get caught up. At the end of it, I was a fan of both series, but the Alpha and Omega series squeaked past Mercy by a hair. Less pack dynamics/politics in the A&O series.
What I loved about both was the strong ties to Native American cultures their respective MC’s have but was frustrated about how little the Native American cultures actually played a part until River Marked gave us more about Mercy’s heritage. Now we’re starting to get a bit more about Charles’ in Dead Heat.
Like others, I enjoyed Fair Game less than the first two books in the A&O series so I was a little hesitant about cracking this one open, worried it might have that same dark tone overlaid with heavy tension between the two MC’s. But we’re back to a great plot and MC’s that work together. Once that was clear, I didn’t want to put the book down; after the scene in the classroom with Amethyst, I was riveted.
I knocked off half a star because I knew who Anna and Charles were looking for from the first scene they had together, but truly, it did not matter one whit to my enjoyment of the story overall.
The scene when Anna and Charles met Ms. Edison was very well written, but Ms. Briggs used that moment to explain in detail why Opium, more than most other perfumes, masked scents so well that Charles couldn’t smell anything else. The only reason for that detail to be explained was that it was going to have significant repercussions later on. (Ms. Edison is wearing Opium / Opium masks scents. Ergo, Ms. Edison has something to hide.)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I’m looking forward to reading it again almost as much as I am looking forward to reading the next one.