BONE CROSSED by Patricia Briggs

Title: Bone Crossed
Series: Mercy Thompson #4
Author: Patricia Briggs

Summary

Mercy was able to prove Zee's innocence, but at a high cost; as tough as she may be, Mercy still panics at the memory of Tim and his abuse.  She is trying hard to not feel victimized, but it's hard when everyone is walking on eggshells around her.

But Mercy has other things to worry about. When a starved Stefan shows up in her trailer, Mercy knows that Marsilia has discovered her betrayal.  While none of the vampires are making a direct move against her, Mercy's friends soon become targets; so when Mercy's friend comes to visit claiming she has a ghost in her house that is terrorizing her son, it seems best for everyone involved in Mercy goes to investigate.  Mercy believes that leaving town will lessen the targets on her friends' backs, whereas everyone else seems to believe that it will protect Mercy from the vampires' reach.

Either way, vampires don't just live in the Tri-Cities, and Mercy has a tendency to attract trouble, or in this case, the notice of the only vampire in Spokane.

My Impression

My main happiness with this book is that the love triangle has been dissolved. There is still some tension, which I find totally realistic, but I was worried that the love triangle would hold back this series, so I'm glad that it didn't overstay its welcome.  I am also really happy that Mercy chose Adam. While I do like Samuel's character, I never felt that Mercy could have a healthy relationship with him, which she also seemed to be aware of.

However, I also liked that things didn't just automatically work between Adam and Mercy. Much of this has to do with the Tim events at the end of Iron Kissed, events which were painful to read, and while I wish Mercy had been able to escape with less abuse, it did give the series a way of easing into the relationship between the two. (I really hope this doesn't make me sound like a monstrous person.)

The way that Mercy dealt with her rape and abuse was also realistic, in my opinion.  I found it believable that Mercy would quickly become irritated with being treated with pity, especially since she has a hard time controlling her panic attacks.  I also liked that she couldn't just brush away the horror of her rape, which was one thing I also feared with this book.  While Mercy is a remarkable strong woman, it would have been hard to believe that she could walk away without being haunted in some way.

As far as the plot went, I wasn't super interested in Blackwood, the vampire from Spokane, or the ghost haunting Amber's house. I liked that it gave a bit more insight into Mercy's abilities, and that it was one instance where Mercy really got herself into trouble; outside of that, I was more interested in the things happening in the Tri-Cities.

Why I Picked Up This Book

I honestly love this series, as well as Briggs' Alpha & Omega series.

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Romance
My Rating: Four Stars

Interested in other books by Patricia Briggs?  Check here to read my reviews of other books from this series.