Dead Spots (Scarlett Bernard, book 1) by Melissa F. Olson
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Edition Reviewed: eBook
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle
Goodreads: Dead Spots
Scarlett Bernard knows about personal space: step within ten feet of her, and any supernatural spells or demonic forces are instantly defused—vampires and werewolves become human again, and witches can’t get out so much as a “hocus pocus.” This special skill makes her a null and very valuable to Los Angeles’s three most powerful magical communities, who utilize her ability to scrub crime scenes clean of all traces of the paranormal to keep humanity, and the LAPD, in the dark.
But one night Scarlett’s late arrival to a grisly murder scene reveals her agenda and ends with LAPD’s Jesse Cruz tracking her down to strike a deal: he’ll keep quiet about the undead underworld if she helps solve the case. Their pact doesn’t sit well with Dash, the city’s chief bloodsucker, who fears his whole vampire empire is at stake. And when clues start to point to Scarlett, it’ll take more than her unique powers to catch the real killer and clear her name.
Review:
Nulls. They're my latest obsession in my Urban Fantasy reads. I've been collecting them like crazy . . . and Dead Spots is the one I finally decided to try out. Up front nulls in this book are pretty cool, and the mystery behind what kind of powers they can truly develop is pretty mind tickling. Oh, and that ending!! Oh. My. Cliffhangers!
The problem is all of the above is pretty much all I carried away from this book. Or more correctly all I really cared about. Scarlett was not my favorite person. Some bad stuff happened in her past. From things she could have never have changed or predicted. That type of thing scars a person. Totally get that. However, for all of her cutting people out and trying to protect people . . . she went about a very stupid way of protecting them. Ignorance is not protection, if she would have told her brother about what had happened things would have been safer. Also, she basically finds out that a psycho up turned her world and that other evil people knew what happened. Yet they said nothing and supported those actions. She basically goes about her life normally, not bothering to try and learn anything. Hiding behind her scars and leaving herself buck naked to danger.
The world is interesting, but overall nothing new to the genre. It felt very generic. From the cast of characters to the creatures. The mythology behind why all the “Old World” creatures got that way is kind of cool, but the rest of the series was dull. Oh, and after I read the prologue I figured I knew what was happening and who was doing it. It needs to be said how badly the prologue felt connected to the actual story. In fact, I think the whole book would have worked out better without it.
That being said the Scarlett Bernard world still interests me. That cliffhanger ending was worth it! Plus, in general it's always good to give a series second—sometimes three—chances. It can take a series, or author, a few tries to get into the swing of things. Overall Dead Spots isn't bad. It's told from two POVs and I actually enjoyed the—man candy’s, cough—cop's page time. While I felt him accepting the Old World didn't come off strongly on the page, I enjoyed him immensely. It will be exciting to see if he develops away from being par of just another love triangle. Because there is one here, and it was annoying that it felt so . . . young adult. Cheap young adult. The rest of the books won't be jumping up on my TBR pile anytime soon.
Sexual Content: Yeah, it’s there. Scarlett get . . . OK got some. There’s some sexual humor and talk, however it’s all really tame.
2/5- Average/disappointing, library check-out.
| Previous book(s) in series: | ||
| Reviewed on BW: | Amazon: | Goodreads: |
| Dead Spots (1) Trail of Dead (2) Hunter’s Trail (3) | Dead Spots (1) Trail of Dead (2) Hunter’s Trail (3) | Dead Spots (1) Trail of Dead (2) Hunter’s Trail (3) |
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