The mystery man, Alban, was a gargoyle. One of the fabled Old Races who had hidden their existence for centuries. Now he was a murder suspect, and he needed Margrit's help to take the heat off him and find the real killer. And as the dead pile up, it's a race against the sunrise to clear Alban's name and keep them both alive...
Comment: In the past, I have liked reading the Walker Papers series by author CE Murphy, although the last book could have been better for me.
This Negotiator trilogy seemed to be different, after all it would last through less books, and by the blurbs it would center a little bit more on romance? Well, I thought so.
Unfortunately, I think it's one of those cases of too much time gone from the "peak potential", meaning the timing when certain books mean/say more to you than eventually sometime later.
In this first book of the trilogy we meet Margrit Knight, a young woman who works as a lawyer for legal aid and often defends accused people, something that doesn't suit her sort of boyfriend Tony, a cop.
Margrit is a very independent woman despite sharing an apartment with her closest friends and that is more obvious in her non afraid personality, a trait we can understand as soon as the story begins for she is running alone at night in a potentially dangerous park near her house. It's there that one night she discovers a murdered woman and that starts the adventure of Margrit's life...
This story is labeled paranormal romance and urban fantasy but there is a clear focus on the second designation. The romance that readers can perceive is very subtle, often not evident or likely at all and for me part of why I wasn't impressed probably comes from that.
Margrit is indeed a fascinating woman and the author made a rather obvious effort to let us know Margrit is a woman of color in a setting with mostly white people and with a hero even more different than she is (he is apparently a gargoyle), so that the impact of how unique everything is stands out even more.
The issue of this book for me isn't Margrit herself or her actions/behavior although that could be somewhat negative because she seems to know all the steps, she is in control of many aspects but I never felt I was connecting with her. I still wouldn't know how to characterize Margrit beyond the superficial.
For the biggest issue is that this is a paranormal setting, there are "rules" or elements that should give the reader a clear idea of this world but everything is super secretive, the hero isn't very talkative, some plot development comes from visions some characters give the others... it's all very unclear on how it works and I wasn't very convinced about why I would need to care for some things.
I suppose I could say the writing wasn't always very captivating because the subjects weren't well presented. Comparing with the author other work I'm familiar with, it can be easy to say this is from the author's beginning of career. However, it is proof for me that the unsteady way the plot develops makes it too difficult to engage with what is happening and enjoy.
From the blurb description, one can infer Magrit is brave and smart and cares about those around her, even the hero she doesn't know well yet. Of course her attitude towards him has to be part of the story, otherwise the romance wouldn't have meaning but from this book alone I wouldn't be able to say it's a romance that has the strength to work out, we barely see any connection between them...
As for the future, I know Margrit is supposed to get together with the gargoyle hero but this means we still have some love triangle to push through and I don't have the patience for that.
It's a pity for me that the paranormal characters populating this world weren't portrayed in as more captivating manner, nor the world in which they now live by having adapted to the majority of humans. There's potential here but unlike other PNR/UF series, I think it wasn't used well.
There were time I was bored while reading, that I didn't see why some details would matter. I often thought about skipping and that can't be terribly positive.
I said above that having waited so long (10 years or so) to read this book was probably a mistake. I'm not as dedicated to PNR or UF these days unless it's part of a favorite series. I know part of my problem is my own perspective and not just the story alone. Still, I can't find any will to read more about these characters so I'll stop here. The cover is pretty, though.
Grade: 4/10
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