Review by Diane Matson

THE DARKEST KISS - 2008 by Keri Arthur Dell ISBN 0-55359114-2

I'm always a little leery when Feo hands me a book with the front and back covers indicating it's been dipped in steamy hormones rather than mutated blood. Loathe to deny Feo his reviews, I carefully accepted the book, holding it with thumb and forefinger, and held it at arms length.

When I carefully cracked the book, I discovered it is the sixth in a series about Riley Jenson, but Keri does a good job spooning out back story as needed. Just enough to prevent confusion, or to enrich characters' responses to situations.

The story takes place in a world of humans, werewolves, vampires, shift-changers, and other interesting supernatural creatures. Riley is a half werewolf, half shape-shifter (although later she's called a half vampire, which left me confused). She's a detective for the non-human police force called the Directorate, and there are two elusive serial killers keeping everyone busy, confused, and often dead.

In addition to the usual attributes, the supernatural folks sometimes have additional abilities. If she can get to the body fast enough, Riley can sense the soul of a dead person. She can also link telepathically to other people’s minds, which helps when questioning suspects and witnesses, though usually she’s polite and stays out of people's heads.

Although Riley is used to changing into a wolf any time she wants, in the previous book she was forcefully given a drug to enhance her abilities. Now, in addition to shifting into a wolf, she can also shift into a gangly seagull. This story starts with attempting to fly, or in Riley’s case, stop falling so fast. Being a werewolf merely means her bruises heal faster, not that she doesn't get them, so falling out of a tree, over and over starts her off battered, bruised, and pissed off. I love flawed but good-hearted protagonists.

Although I was prepared to read something infected by the Harlequin Romance Flu, I grudgingly had to admit that for the most part, I enjoyed the story. Smiled as I read the first sentence of the book - "Being thrown out of a tree wasn't my idea of fun." Nice visual action combined with the wry humor that often filters into Keri's scenes.

The characters are intelligent. Outfoxing sharp protagonists is a sure way to win my admiration, because then I'm guessing along with the characters, trying to figure out what's going on. Throw in a world of supernatural creatures with special abilities, and the world gets vastly more complicated, interesting, and unpredictable. It's one of the chief reasons I find horror novels so entertaining.

Meanwhile, Riley's personal life is frustrating because after a painful breakup in the previous book, she's sworn off men for a while (which had me cheering). Unfortunately, her hormones don't give a damn (were-creatures hormones run as hot as teenagers', and during the full moon must helplessly submit to them like a cat in heat), so throughout the book she's fighting off sexual tension. This is a little irritating, because any guy she's attracted to is raving gorgeous and wouldn't mind breaking her celibacy. But Keri takes it over the top. I don't care how strong Riley's supernatural hormones are supposed to be - the perfection, and sexual thickness breaks the regular flow of the book, which is really a great detective thriller, enhanced by the supernatural beings who share it with humans.

So yes, I rolled my eyes at the way Riley noticed good looking men around her, particularly Kade, an enormously attractive were-horse who works with her. Often scenes between Riley and Kade, involve an annoyingly heavy amount of unreleased hormonal tension. Every move he makes ramps up Riley's hormones in ridiculous ways. He's always gorgeous, speaks in a rich, throaty voice while his eyes beg her to give in, etc. ad nauseam. If every single move, word, breath, and reaction weren't described with such sickenly cloying sexuality, the scenes would read better.

Halfway through this "romance" book, I still had no idea who (according to the back cover) Riley's supposed to be helplessly attracted to. This is different. I like it. Keri still goes a little out of her way to push the good looks and hormones, but just enough so I was annoyed every once in a while, not constantly.

When Riley shifts into wolf or seagull form, her clothes tend to shred, not shift. Naturally, this isn't a problem if she takes them off. There's some inconsistency though, because after a shift into seagull form, her jeans survived, but her bra and top were shredded (though her top "happened" to survive enough that she could knot it in front and still be presentable). Seems to me, either all the clothes should be destroyed, or, once shifted, Riley should have difficulty getting her animal body out of her clothing. And what about her jewelry? Everyone, particularly cops, wear a watch and carry a badge. At this point Keri, (and Riley) merely mention the situation and shrug at the physical inconsistency, rather than think through the details of the established magical rules. I call this Lazy Writing and there's just no excuse for it.

There are a few phrases repeated, 2-4 times, word for word, in the book. Several times Riley called to "the magic deep within my soul". Another phrase used more than once is "my heart gave a happy skip." The third time the same phrase is used, it's downright annoying. I'm being picky, but Keri is good enough to know better.

Three Bookwyrms

This review copyright 2010 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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