The Dread
Gail Z. Martin
Orbit, Feb 1 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780316093613

Weary of war but knowing hostilities are heating up; tired King Donelan of Isencroft goes to lie down in his bed. However, an assassin rigged a bow contraption underneath, which is activated when the monarch’s weight hit the bed. The ruler is dead and the kingdom is on the verge of civil war. Donelan’s daughter Queen Kiara Sharsequin Drayke leaves her husband and child behind in Margolan to go home as the monarch and prevent the civil war at a time when external crisis threatens the country.

Elsewhere in the Winter Kingdoms, trouble has returned with the bellicose rise of normally isolated Temnotta. At the same time, Kiara’s mate Summoner-King Martris Drayke (see Chronicles of the Necromancer) struggles with sorcery and steel combat coming to his nation at a time Tris fears for the soul of his infant child while he must use forbidden magic to deal the rise of the Dread.

The latest Fallen King’s Cycle political-military fantasy (see The Sworn) starts off with the shocking assassination, but slows down immediately afterward while the numerous subplots are established. Once done, the storyline accelerates into a rousing thriller as war has returned to the Winter Kingdoms. Filled with minute details, fans will believe they traverse the dangerous realms of the Martin mythos.

Harriet Klausner

Darkness Bound
Stella Cameron
Forever, Feb 28 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9781455500154

After two years as a couple and a few days married, Chris died. Fourteen months later, his grieving widow Leigh Kelly decides she cannot live in their home filed with too many memories. She moves to Chimney Rock on Whidbey Island.

Former Special Ops soldier Niles Latimer and his werehound Team are diligently watching the newcomer to keep her safe from rogues assaulting women. However, he also senses Leigh possesses something unique that could prove her compatible as life mate for a werehound. Nile realizes she knows nothing about her DNA or the existence of werehounds as he and his Team vow to protect her while the evil enemy senses who she is too and pledges to take her.

The first Chimney Rock romantic urban fantasy is a superb dark thriller in which Stella Cameron creates a deep mythos that feels genuine; inside of a fast-paced good and evil battle for Leigh. Loaded with chilling action, a strong lead couple and two camps of werehounds and other ilk, sub-genre readers will enjoy a visit to mysterious Whidbey Island where the paranormal is the normal.

Harriet Klausner

Darkness Undone
Jessa Slade
Signet, Mar 6 2012, $7.99
ISBN 9780451236265

To earn his wings as a League of Talyan Bookkeeper, Sidney Westerbrook leaves London to study why Chicago contains an exorbitant level of otherworldly combat. Though he preferred research from a distance, he knows field work is an inconvenient truth of his mission. However, the Chicago League Chief Liam Niall refuses to allow him to join their night patrol on his first evening in the city; suggesting he adapt to the time change first.

Thus Sidney goes out on the town alone. However, Westerbrook realizes the stupidity of his actions when two feralis attack him. His shoulder injured, he expects to be a mangled corpse only a female talya warrior intercedes as Alyce Carver is not bound by strict League rules as a rogue battling evil ferales solo. They are attracted to one another, but Sid is a London based Bookkeeper and Alyce is a rogue unaffiliated talyan ,and is expected to mate with one of her kind.

The fourth Marked Souls romantic urban fantasy (see Seduced by the Shadows, Forged in Shadows and Vowed in Shadows) is an exciting paranormal with a fascinating unexpected but plausible twist. The story line is fast-paced with the well done gender spin of the heroine saving the helpless male in distress. Although Alyce garners much respect for her dedication and empathy for her loneliness, Sid fails to do likewise as understanding him comes late. Still this is another dynamic thriller in the super Slade mythos.

Harriet Klausner

The Drowning Girl
Caitlín R. Kiernan
Roc, Mar 6 2012, $16.00
ISBN 9780451464163

India “Imp” Morgan Phelps would have been shocked if the shrink diagnosed her as an NT; instead labeling her as a schizophrenic which makes sense to her. Imp knows lunacy is like apple pie to her family as far back as she knows. Still meds and the shrink help her pretend she lives a normal life.

Imp is shocked when she sees the model in the 1898 The Drowning Girl painting. Meeting Eva Canning also brings about dreams and memories that cannot be true, but Imp wonders about their source as she fears her mental illness has worsened since meeting Eva. Deciding to learn who Eva is, Imp is further stunned when the woman vanishes. As reality becomes increasingly unstable, the voice amidst the chaos of her brain triggers an obsessive compulsive need to know what truly happened; ergo Imp ponders whether Eva is a ghost warning her but of what or a priestess whose flock died in 1991 in a mass drowning.

This excellent thriller grips the audience with a need to know whether the protagonist is mentally insane or dealing with regressed memories including perhaps generational. Impossible to put aside, The Drowning Girl is a fabulous psychological suspense or fantasy; Caitlín R. Kiernan keeps us guessing until the end.

Harriet Klausner

Dream Shadows
Ingrid Weaver
Berkley, Feb 7 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425246122

For fifteen weeks millionaire Elizabeth Graye has lied in a coma. Mrs. Harrison directed caretakers to play Mozart and Beethoven as a stimulus. However, Norma also plays Country music for her comatose patient and reads extracts from her romance novels.

Thus Norma plays the sad sound of musician Rick Denning, which reaches through the fog of Elizabeth’s rewiring brain. They begin meeting in different time periods when he is asleep. When his Elizabeth appears in his daydreams, Rick obsessively decides to search for the woman he never met in person but has fallen in love with her. As he encourages her to come to him, however, someone else has other plans for the rich “bi*ch and no country singer is going to stand in the way.

Dream Shadows is a fascinating romantic suspense with a paranormal element serving as a matchmaker. Because of the diverse eras, the storyline feels somewhat repetitive in an entertaining Ground Hog Day way. Mindful of Jack Finney’s classic Time And Again, fans will enjoy love on a different plane while the body lies comatose and a killer waits to finish the job.

Harriet Klausner

Doubletake
Rob Thurman
Roc, Mar 6 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451464446

After killing the monstrous Auphe race (see Blackout) who believed they belonged at the top of the food chain, half human/half Auphe Cal Leandros assumes his monstrous problems are gone. He is unaware that another hybrid beast lives and comes to him with a special purpose in mind. His brother Niko has family issues when his biological father, whom he never saw before, arrives in town to get help locating and disabling the “burden” in order for the siblings to return it to the Voyash Clan. The brother have no time for him as thy host a party for the Puck race (to include pal Goodfellow) who as Cupid look a-likes have lived for hundreds of thousands of years.They need a census to determine how man Pucks need to procreate.

Cal gatess Niko’s father to Central Park and after the gala, the burden JLanus the mechanical sentience being crosses through a gate and tries to kill anyone with Voyash blood. Another gate opens enabling Grimm to cross over to tell Cal he wants to join forces with him to get rid of the human race; he wants Cal to mate with a succabae so the progeny will one day take over the human world. To defeat his insane peer, Cal fights a mad god, several Cyclops and other creatures in an attempt to neutralize the Grimm.

The latest Cal and Niko dark urban fantasy (see Roadkill) is a fascinating entry that focuses on Cal who once again proves he is more human than Auphe as the heart of the series and this tale remains the powerful sibling relationship. Adding to the fun of Doubletake is meeting Niko’s scandalous biological father who is an absentee dad until he needs his son’s brother. The aurhor. Rob Thurmond provides another strong tale in a great saga.

Harriet Klausner

Discount Armageddon
Seanan McGuire
Daw, Mar 6 2012, $7.99
ISBN 9780756407131

The Price extended family has been cryptid hunters for generations. However, they eventually rejected the Covenant of St. George that condoned species cleansing. Like the rest of her clan, Verity Price is a cryptozoologist who works to insure safe environments for cryptids and humans. However, though she is passionately dedicated, her first love is ballroom dancing though she wonders where that strand of her DNA comes from.

Thus Verity moves from the West Coast to New York to dance for a year. When she prevents a carnivorous ghoul (clearly an oxymoron) from dining on a human, Verity, who works as a waitress for a Dark bogeyman at Dave’s Fish and Strips club, concludes this is why she never has a Saturday night date. As cryptids are being hunted in the city, Dominick DeLuca catches Verity in a rooftop snare. The two enemies agree to team up when lizard people are found in the sewers and rumors abound that a sleeping dragon underneath Manhattan gneiss bedrock is awakening.

As October takes a Daye off, Seanan McGuire begins a new urban fantasy starring a Romeo and Juliet couple. The storyline is fun to follow due to the amusing asides from the priceless heroine. With a nod to the classic cantina scene in Star Wars, it is the McGuire Manhattan mythos with the various cryptid species, many introduced at Dave’s club (like the therianthrope bouncer – cute as long as you don’t tango, and the dragon princess - known for making money faster than Wall St. and without a male), that makes for a great read.

Harriet Klausner

Darkest Highlander
Donna Grant
St. Martin’s, Jan 31 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780312533496

The Druids created Broc the warrior who has dedicated his heart to protecting his beloved Druidess Sonya’ though he hides how he feels as he knows they can never be together. Thus Broc is stunned when the woman he loves flees Castle MacLeod.

He follows her only to catch up to her nearly dead. As Sonya heals, she explains to Broc that she no longer can perform magic. Broc is confused as he can feel she still has the power. When Deirdre’s evil forces capture Broc, Sonya knows she must rescue the man she loves. He is chained to evil magic with no hope for escape for eternity. She helps Broc escape; with both of them ending up in an ancient tomb where they dig up an artifact hoping to prevent Deirdre from using it.

The latest Dark Sword historical romantic fantasy (see Shadow Highlander, Untamed Highlander, Dangerous Highlander and Wicked Highlander) is a great tale that deftly merges early seventeenth century Highlander lifestyle within the Grant Druid mythos. The lead protagonists propel the fast-paced The storyline as readers will wonder love can overcome malicious amoral malevolence.

Harriet Klausner

Deliver Me From Darkness
Tes Hilaire
Sourcebooks, Feb 7 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9781402236434

After God created the earth, several angels volunteered to live and protect humans from the Fallen led Lucifer. However, over the millennia, the purebred Paladins have dwindled with no females left. Still there remains their offspring with humans fighting with less power to defeat the evil demons and vampires.

Nine decades ago, Roland the Paladin was changed into a vampire, which means execution. For ninety years he has struggled to retain his essence but each year has become increasingly difficult in spite his best friend and former partner Calhoun’s help. In New York City when he meets a previously unknown female Paladin Karissa who is unaware what she is as she comes to his door, Roland feels God is punishing him as she is his soul mate but he is no longer worthy to have her as his. Meanwhile paladins, demons and vampires stalk Karissa with Roland vowing to die to keep this naive female he cherishes with what is left of his soul safe. She instinctively knows vampires are wicked, but only with Roland at her side does she feel safe.

The first Paladin Warrior romantic urban fantasy is a wonderful thriller in which the paranormal Hilaire world is firmly established so that readers understand who’s on whose side of the war while believing that demons, vampires and paladins walk the streets of Manhattan. Fast-paced, fans will enjoy the star-crossed romance between the female paladin and her vampiric soul mate.

Harriet Klausner

Deadtime Stories: Grave Secrets
Annette and Gina Cascone
Starscape/Tor, Jan 3 2012, $14.99
ISBN: 9780765330659

Amanda Peterson hits the walk off homer, but neither she or her friends (Laura Baxter, Kevin Stewart and Jarrad Clark) celebrate as the ball lands inside 704 Shadow Lane owned by the creepy old witch ”Barnsey”. Her mates tell her to forget the ball that landed right near the shred where Barnsey tosses rat heads by reminding her what the witch did to Luzard and French. Amanda retrieves the ball but bony fingers grab her wrist while the tweener hysterically shouts at her friend to not let Barnsey take her into the dungeon. Barnsey lets go, but a frightened Amanda panics as she lost her friendship bracelet. The four tweeners fear Barnsey will use the bracelet to cast a spell on Amanda.

The friends search in Amanda’s yard, but find a dead squirrel. They decide to bury the deceased in Amanda’s pet cemetery where Ralphie the hamster, Herman the goldfish, and Snitch the canary reside. Jarrod digs a hole when they hear mama. He uncovers a buried doll with no voice box. Amanda learns from her parents the pet cemetery was land that once belonged to Barnsey. The quartet uncovered a malevolence that makes little old lady-witches seem benign as they fear for themselves and Amanda’s five year old naive sister Robin.

The first Deadtime Stories is a terrific tweener horror thriller starring four children whose imagination runs wild, but does not compare to the realism of what they face. While Amanda’s parents insist Mrs. Barnsey is a nice neighbor, the buddies believe she is a witch although Jarrod is a skeptic. Fans will enjoy this entertaining tale from Team Cascone as the Youngers find out what evil truly is.

Harriet Klausner