Review--Dying Bites

I just finished reading this new book in a new series by a new author. At least new author for me! It was a very interesting new series too. I just love the world that Jace enters!

Prior to reading this I had read a bad review on it, and let me just say this person was completely and entirely wrong. They said the ending was predictable, I didn't see it coming. I didn't automatically know who the bad guy was. This person was just entirely negative about the book and did not say 1 good thing about it. I really enjoyed it and will be looking forward to the next book in the series.

Here is what's on the back of the book:

Her job description is the “tracking and apprehension of mentally-fractured killers.” What this really means in FBI profiler Jace Valchek’s brave new world—one in which only one percent of the population is human—is that a woman’s work is never done. And real is getting stranger every day…

Jace has been ripped from her reality by David Cassius, the vampire head of the NSA. He knows that she’s the best there in the business, and David needs her help in solving a series of gruesome murders of vampires and werewolves. David’s world—one that also includes lycanthropes and golems—is one with little knowledge of mental illness. An insane serial killer is a threat the NSA has no experience with. But Jace does. Stranded in a reality where Bela Lugosi is a bigger box office draw than Bruce Willis and every full moon is Mardi Gras, Jace must now hunt down a fellow human before he brings the entire planet to the brink of madness. Or she may never see her own world again…

Jace is literally in another world. That part was a little confusing to grasp at first, that the world she is now in is in another dimension or something, but you just have to accept it at face value. She was ripped from her reality and placed into this new one in order to solve a crime spree of murders committed by someone who seems to be insane. This is a world, as it was mentioned, where humans are the lower race. Vampires and lycanthropes outrank them as well as golems.

This was the first time I read a book where golems actually had a more active role in the plot and enjoyed it. Golems were always interesting creatures. There is even some historical background on some of these creatures, golems included that tell the reader, as well as Jace, what they are all about and where they came from.

The book was told from in the present tense, something I was not used to whatsoever. It was the first time to my recollection that I was reading a book in present tense instead of past. Meaning things would be like: "What's that?" I ask. Instead of "asked". It was different, but I liked it. I like venturing away from what I usually read, to a certain point of course! Not really likely to read something that's non-fiction anytime soon. I like my fiction way too much!

The back of the book actually gives a good description as to what happens without too many spoilers. I don't want to give out more details because then it would be leaning more to giving you spoilers. But there is going to be another book that picks up where this one left off. Not sure how many total, but there is an excerpt at the end of the novel for the next one, titled, Death Blows. Not sure when it's due out yet either.

Jace is a funny and fresh character. I liked her a lot, she was real. Someone you can relate to. I also liked the fact that Jace works out of the FBI office in St. Louis--where I'm from! I hardly get to see my city as a location for a story, but the story unfortunately doesn't take place in St. Louis. It takes place in several cities and other countries as well come to think of it. St. Louis was just mentioned briefly, once.

Since this book kind of falls under a mystery-suspence category, I actually bought it under horror, but there's mystery to it. It's a crime fighting kind of novel, so talking about the book is hard for me because there are too many things that I think would spoil the novel for new readers. The crime fighting suspense is awesome, I realize that I don't read enough of these kinds of books because they really gripping. I can't wait for the next one!