Twisted Kingdom

When I was doing my reviews the other day I apparently skipped this book. I usually have a pile of books awaiting reviews written, but for some reason this book was somewhere else. So, if my review is a little disjointed, that is because I had read this book a while ago.

From the back of the book:

All the creatures of the night gather in "the Hollows" of Cincinnati, to hide, to prowl, to party... and to feed.

Vampires rule the darkness in a predator-eat-predator world rife with dangers beyond imagining - and it's Rachel Morgan's job to keep that world civilized.

A bounty hunter and witch with serious sex appeal and an attitude, she'll bring'em back alive, dead... or undead.

I mainly picked this book up when I did because I was enjoying the Anita Blake novels by Laurell K. Hamilton. I have been trying to track down book 3 in that series, because that is one that I am on, but until I place an order on Amazon that seems to not be happening any time soon. So, without book 3, I decided to read Harrison the other day for my supernatural fix.

I really like her little author bio:

Born in the Midwest, Kim Harrison has been called a witch, among other things, but has never seen a vampire (that she knows of). She loves graveyards and midnight jazz, and wears too much black.

It is creative. Better than the generic info that you normally find out about authors. It is also a good marketing scheme because of its non-comformity. It catches the eye and makes you curious to see what the author writes like.

Anyways, unlike the Anita Blake novels, Harrison covers the whole spectrum of supernatural creatures. We have Rachel Morgan who is a witch that works for the underworld police force as a bounty hunter. Life has not been going well for her lately, though, and on one night of a pointless mission she decides that she is sick of the system and wants to break out on her own. Which, her vampire boss thinks is a wonderful idea because he doesn't like her anyways and has been setting her up to fail in the hopes that she would quit. There is only one problem: Ivy. Ivy is a living vampire, meaning that she has the blood to become a vampire when she dies, she just has not died yet. She works with Rachel and is considered the top vampire at her work, so the boss doesn't take to kindly to Rachel quitting and taking Ivy with her. This means trouble for Rachel, trouble as in assassination attempts.

The only way for Rachel to get out of her situation is by paying off her contract. The way to go about that is by bringing in a big player. In this case, Trent. We don't really learn what species he is, but we do learn that is bad news to mess with him. He messes with Rachel many times, something that she never quite seems able to get away from. He is wanted for smuggling brimstone, but Rachel learns that there is more to the case than they originally thought. She also meets what you assume to be her love interest in future books while under Trent's clutches. But, of course, even witches deserve love. He is a mortal, but has grown up around the creatures of the underworld.

All in all, it is an interesting novel, and has the potential to be a good series. Of course, book two is not available at the book store, but that is my luck in many things. Rachel is a comical character, not as serious as Anita Blake. There are other beings out there as well, Harrison takes advantage of anything that has a supernatural quality to it, making very an interesting cast of characters.

3.5/5