Spiral Hunt

Interesting...

...but it just didn't grab me. Maybe it was the terminology that I had to wrap my brain around and then just read on because the witchcraft languange and ancient Celtic language isn't necessarily in Webster's. In all, eh. Good start. Maybe the other books build on this.

Do you love Celtic Mythology, lots of Mystery and Urban Fantasy? Give this book a try!

Genevieve, or Evie as friend from school call her, works as a bike courier in Boston. But, on the side works to help recover, or find, items for people - for a fee to help pay rent. Evie has a special ability passed down in her family blood of years past, she can smell scents even almost taste them at times. Evie has the nick name in the Undercurrent of Hound. But one night, after midnight she receives a call from a friend of the past who Evie thought was gone or dead. Frank, someone Evie had not talked to in fifteen years which didn't end on best of terms, calls to say he has found a way out and is leaving. But the coversation changes and Evie now can taste the scent of a hunt. She receives a warning from another through Frank. Because Frank was once a friend, and possibly more, she feels she owes him and decides to hunt him since no one knows where he is, and there was something in his voice which she feared he would be in trouble.

The story caught my attention at the beginning. The mystery started right off from page one. Then as I read more questions surfaced to me. I love mystery with my urban fantasy, and this book had it. Fifty pages into the book I was caught up with many questions and wondering how they will tie together. From here on out I started to get the pieces and the puzzel was coming together.

There is magic, Celtic mythology, and a dark side mixed in here. The magic is defined in this story as three different categories and what would fall in those areas. The Irish mythology is added in and blended with the gods and magic together to come to the end of the book.

I enjoyed reading this book, although I did at times stumble over a few words I was not sure of. My confusion was only because I was not quite sure what some words were, ones used in the magic world, which I am sure many of you would know them. These words did get defined in the book.

I have book two here and will be getting to it as well!

Highly Original and A Great Start to a New Urban Fantasy!

The story takes place in Boston's seedy underground. Evie Scelan has always been good at finding things through scent. She has a sense for magic and a natural talent for "hounding". She works as a messenger for a living but secretly "hounds" on the side. She has always managed to keep her ability a secret and work under the radar of the Bright Brotherhood. The Bright Brotherhood, a powerful group (gang) who run Boston's secret, magical society and is rivaled by no one. They take what they want and have no qualms of using or killing anyone who gets in their way. Usually anyone who displays any kind of magical talent in Boston, often goes missing, never to be heard from again and usually turns up dead. One night Evie gets a phone call from an old boyfriend, who has a grave warning for her. He has been imprisoned and used by the Brotherhood for years and is now on the run from them. He believes the Brotherhood has sensed her abilities and will be tracking her soon. Evie hits the ground running trying to find him but unfortunately he turns up dead. His body has been covered in spirals and runic ink and with a face that barely resembles who he used to be. It seems that he is not the only one who has shown up dead, covered in magical spirals. Evie does some digging and finds that similar murders like this have been occurring in Boston for decades. Evie follows the thick scent of death straight back to the Brotherhood. It is here that her spiral hunt begins. This story was very interesting and had quite a bit of Celtic Mythology included. The beginning was a bit slow but did start moving quickly towards the middle, by the end I didn't want to put it down. The author is clearly a huge Red Sox fan. Too bad I'm not but I enjoyed this book regardless and I recommend it. I also look forward to the next book in the series Wild Hunt due out February 2010.

Interesting Concept, It Has Potential

This book is about Genevieve Scelan, Evie. Her nickname is the Hound since she can find things based on scent. She get a call in the middle of the night from her ex, Frank, saying he is really getting out. When she tries to find out more about what he is talking about, she runs into Brendan Corrigan, who says he is a friend of Franks and is looking for him too.

While trying to find Frank, Evie's friend Susan asks her to find some chain stones for her, which she changes her mind about later. LLerena,Rena, a friend and cop, then asks Evie to find something from a body that was pulled out of the river. The body is Frank. Rena tells Evie about several bodies that turn up in 1978 that are similar to how Frank was found except the ink spirals on Frank were carved into the other bodies. Now, trying to figure out what is going on with the local magic community is Evie's main goal.

I really thing this book has good potential. The main problem that I had was there were so many terms and such that I had never heard of and didn't know what they were supposed to be. I could follow the basic plot the the story, which was well done, but I think I missed a bunch because of the terminology.

Urban fantasy lovers have a new star on the horizon.

Because of how powerful the magical undercurrent that flows through Boston is the Fiana , mages who left Ireland due to the famine and settled in Boston. Massachusetts. Over the decades, their power grew so that they set the laws of magic usage; non-members are frightened by the iron rule of this cartel as much as they fear addiction of excess usage of magical undercurrent.

Frank McDermott calls his former lover Evie ¿Hound¿ Scanlon, a practitioner who avoids the undercurrent as much as she can, to help him as he wants to escape from under the dictatorial control of the Fiana. Evie is renowned for her incredible olfactory sense that enables her to locate missing people and things. Her police detective friend Rena asks Evie to identify a strange corpse of a person who has the body of youth and visage of age; Frank was assassinated with his body covered by Celtic looking patterns. Three more bodies similar to the remains of Frank have been found in the past, but in spite of police investigations, the cases have become cold. Evie considers for some unknown reason the Fiana are after her, killing her loved ones. Her theory seems affirmed when they snatch the young sister of a friend; placing her in a difficult situation because a rescue attempt probably means death.

The vivid account of magical Boston in which non-practitioners are ignorant of the swirling undercurrent, the detailed laws of magical physics and vicious Fiana enforcement make for a superb urban fantasy. Readers will admire intrepid Evie who knows the probable outcome of what she faces, but proceeds anyway even as she distrusts any magical practitioners because they could be Fiana operatives; instead she turns to non-magicians for assistance. Readers will appreciate this strong opening tale with a unique vision of Beantown. Urban fantasy lovers have a new star on the horizon.

Harriet Klausner

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