Kerry Allen

Tempting Danger by Eileen Wilks
Mass Market Paperback, 301 pages
ISBN: 9780425198780
Available Now
Retail Price $7.99
Book One in a series

I feel terrible about not posting this weeks ago, considering I said something like “more in-depth pimpage forthcoming, unless the author underwent a lobotomy and screwed up the rest of the book,” which is so not the case.

The thing I love most about this book is that it has many layers, and each has some bearing upon every other layer instead of being thrown in for the sake of stringing along the plot to meet the requisite length. It also makes it difficult to write about, so I’ll use a layers-based approach.

The Heroine: Lily Yu, San Diego homicide detective and “sensitive” (she can touch magic, basically). She’s leading the investigation of a savage murder in which the evidence so obviously points to one suspect, she has to consider it’s a setup.

The Hero: Rule Turner, rich playboy and poster boy for lupus-human harmony. He’s the too-obvious subject in Lily’s investigation.

These characters are multidimensional. Lily’s experience with the SDPD, and being a woman with the SDPD, rings true. You get a glimpse of her family life, which is also multifaceted. Her Gift is useful but can be unpleasant and has to be used on the sly. You see Rule as a playboy, a friend, a brother, a son, a father, a diplomat for his clan, and a wolf. They’re both very well drawn.

The Murder: The dead guy was mauled by a werewolf. Rule was “dating” the dead guy’s wife (as well as half the women in San Diego), but he’s not possessive since fidelity is an alien concept to lupi. Furthermore, the dead guy encouraged his wife to screw around so she’d get off his back about his own indiscretions, so there’ s no reason for either of these guys to get hostile. Someone is clearly framing Rule, but why?

The Politics: There’s some lingering human prejudice against lupi, and there are lupi who aren’t on board with assimilating into human culture and giving up their own.

Rule’s papa is the leader of their clan and is recovering from a recent attempt on his life, the attack led by their own kind. Had the assassination been successful, Rule would have assumed his father’s position as clan leader. For such a high-profile lupus to end up in prison on a murder charge would severely damage public opinion of the lupi and put the kibosh on the Species Citizenship Bill coming up in Congress, which Rule’s father supports but many humans and lupi alike are violently opposed to.

The Larger Problem: The barriers between worlds are shifting, and badnasty sorcerers are doing what they can to speed that along so they can invite their goddess over for a little slumber party. Their goddess has personal reasons for wanting lupi reviled and exterminated, so she’s also lobbying against the Species Bill, in a manner of speaking.

The Lurve: Gah, it’s a “soul mate” kind of thing, but I forgive because it’s not the same old. Of course Rule is attractive and charismatic, but Lily has more than a whoa-baby reaction to him, something she mistakes initially for hypoglycemia. They can be only so far apart without suffering physical symptoms. The distance waxes and wanes, but the leash gets pretty short at times. They’re both ambivalent about it, Lily because she doesn’t like not being in control of it and Rule because having a Chosen is such a rare thing, it’s kind of a religious event, something that will isolate him further from other members of his clan. Both agree the relationship apart from the sex will take time to develop, but they have liking and mutual respect going for them already, which is more than most couples can say.

The investigator shtupping a suspect is bad, you say? Well, duh. I assure you, Detective Yu shtups no one (which is not to say there’s no shtupping in this book, but you’ll have to read the book to find out how she gets her man without being a horrible cop). She’s actually far more concerned with upholding the letter of the law than most fictional cops, which is refreshing.

The Deepest Impression, For Some Reason: You get to see Rule in his role as clan bigshot, which is a balancing act between dominance and diplomacy. There’s a scene like that in every wolf book, right? Well, Rule actually applies these skills outside of pack gatherings, demonstrating they’re ingrained and not just for special occasions. His relationship with Dirty Harry, Lily’s 17-pound, battle-scarred, territorial cat is an excellent example. He meets the cat on its own level, takes his lumps, and respects Harry’s position in the household—which is, in typical feline fashion, lording over all the lowly bipeds. That he has that much regard for an ill-tempered cat inspires confidence that he will handle his woman with appropriate respect (which he does, by the way).

The Warning: There are loose ends. Most of the threads are satisfactorily tied in a bow at the end, but there are unsettled relationship issues and Larger Problem issues still pending resolution. There is a Book Two of Lily and Rule before Book Three goes to Cullen (tonight, the part of the Morally Ambiguous Outcast Kerry Always Falls For will be played by Cullen…). To the commitmentphobes out there, this one is good enough to overcome your series allergy.

The favorable comparison to J.D. Robb’s In Death series held up on the second read through. If you like one, you’ll probably like the other.