Iron Kissed - Patricia Briggs

When shape shifting mechanic Mercy Thompson’s mentor (and former boss) is arrested on murder charges, she can’t help but investigate the case; a case that’s complicated by the fact that Zee is fae, the case involves the murders of other fae in a community gated ‘for their own good,’ and most of all because Zee seems not to want Mercy’s help. It doesn’t help that the two men in her life and rapidly losing patience with Mercy’s inability to choose between them, and when she learns her indecision is going to tear the werewolf pack apart the pressure’s on to pick.
This is the third in a strong series – in each book we’ve learned a little more about Briggs’s universe, the fae, werewolf dynamics, and Mercy. As Lynn has pointed out, Briggs does werewolf culture better than anyone in the genre – human intellect doesn’t overrule nature, hierarchies exist in and out of changing, and they’re genuinely a related but separate species to us, and having Mercy be both an insider (raised by a pack) but also an outsider (shapeshifting coyote) allows her to explore, explain and have explained some of the intricacies. It also allows Briggs to introduce new aspects of intra- and inter-pack politics that Mercy can credibly not have known about before the reader does. Unlike other series (both paranormal and other genres), Briggs has managed – at least thus far – to navigate the fine line between new and the familiar, introducing elements that enhance rather than overwhelm what has gone before. What I mean by this is that, unlike Dexter, she hasn’t introduced an unexplained supernatural twist that completely changes the flavour of the work, and unlike the Sookie Stackhouse series, she hasn’t used so much sexual tension to add interest that she needs to introduce a hitherto unhinted at aspect to a character to justify a random excess of allure.
The dialogue is natural, the writing accessible but mature, the characters are layered, and the plot is intricate but clear. Briggs avoids ladling out information in indigestible chunks and writes in an unobtrusive manner that allows the reader to focus on the characters and plot.
The standout element of Iron Kissed is Briggs’s masterful depiction on the aftermath of rape. Nothing I could write would do justice to the complex, lucid, resonant passage toward the end of the novel. The subject matter is distressing, and brilliantly handled; Briggs uses it not only to resolve points of the plot, and create new nuances in the characters and their relationships, but adds a retrospective dimension to an essential element. If you read only one paranormal series, make it this one. - Alex