Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Hoax animals and a consulting vampire on the prowl—Jason never thought having a cop boyfriend would be this hard.

All Animal Control Officer Jason Shen ever wanted was a quiet life of rescuing lost kittens and helping animals in need. Having a paranormal cop boyfriend guarantees an end to the quiet part. What at first seems a random encounter with jackalopes in the park might be more than chance and when State Paranormal sends a handsome, charming vampire to consult with the Seventy-Seventh, he finds his relationship with Alex on shaky ground.

 

Officer Alex Wolf hoped his humaning skills were improving but now he can’t unravel the strange politics at State Paranormal or why Jason’s family seems to hate him. There’s no time to puzzle things out either. Bizarre animals are loose in the city, Jason’s acting strange, and is the vampire captain from State flirting with him? Wolf’s going to have to keep his head in the game if he’s going to have any chance of putting the pieces together and keeping the city safe from the strange critters terrorizing its streets.

 

Book Review

The weird and wonderful world of Angel Martinez’s ‘Offbeat Crime’ series with Philadelphia’s 77th Precinct at its center is back in this fifth volume. Like book number four, it focuses on Alex Wolf, now in a relationship with Jason Shen, and their continuing trials and tribulations as a couple. Of course, the other “paranormally defective” members of the precinct also play a role, and to get the full picture, you really need to read the other four books first. There is a build in the plot that you’d miss if you didn’t read this series in order, just as there are increasing revelations about the characters that I think you can only really understand if you start at the beginning of their adventures. This time the intrepid officers face “hoax” animals, an intrusive officer from State Paranormal who is there to “consult”, and some truly mysterious attacks that leave them baffled as well as extremely busy.

Alex and Jason have not been together all that long, and it shows. Both of them are somewhat insecure about being “enough” for their lover, most of Jason’s family members are atrocious to Alex, and the flirtatious behavior of the vampire officer toward Alex has Jason fearing their days as a couple are numbered. Alex still has trouble with “humaning” (he started life as a wolf and was cursed to remain human) and so he misses many of the nuances in the vampire’s behavior as well as the warming signs that Jason is worried. It takes a while for them to understand what the problem might be – and, being as busy as they are protecting the city against random attacks, it takes even longer for them to solve the problem.

The main plot around the “hoax” animals is very creative – and I really can’t reveal much without a huge spoiler. The improbability of the mystery kept me guessing, and I loved the creativity of it when the ragtag group of paranormal police officers – with Jason’s help – figure out who is behind all of it.

If you like the weird and wonderful paranormality of the 77th Precinct and can’t get enough of their strange adventures, if you want to know how a wolf-man without the finer human graces and an animal control officer deal with some of the obstacles to their new relationship, and if you’re looking for a well-constructed mystery, then you will probably like this novella. I look forward to reading the next one!

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Pride Publishing for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 57931 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	03-October-2017
Price	$3.99 ebook, $10.49 paperback
Buy Link	https://www.pride-publishing.com/book/jackalopes-and-woofen-poofs