TEST
The Twilight Deception by Elisabeth Drake owes a lot to early Laurell K Hamilton; her influence is felt strongly through the whole story.
Arielle is the resident witch at the FBI, working in the newly created preternatural section. Their job is to keep paranormal activity on the down-low, so as to avoid panicking humanity which, as is historically evident, causes more trouble than the original problem. However, when she receives word of a number of suspected vampire-related killings, things start to go downhill. Still, Arielle is tough. She can take care of herself – or so she thinks. Fortunately, plot-wise, her self-confidence is overly optimistic, and Arielle ends up being rescued by a friendly vampire sent to police his race and track down the murderer.
Despite the fact that her pride is hurt, Arielle accepts Jackson’s help, then finds herself more and more attracted to him as their hunt progresses. Their attraction has inherent problems, however. First, their target grows stronger with every passing moment, and it’s unlikely either of them will survive an encounter. Second, Jackson belongs to another world, one in which Arielle wouldn’t survive. Can she ask him to stay in hers?
Arielle is a mélange of the major urban fantasy heroines we’ve seen in the last couple of years, with a dash of Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan, some pieces from Keri Arthur’s Full Moon Rising, definite inspiration from Kelley Armstrong, more than a splash of Karen Chance, and great big chunks of Anita Blake. Like these novels, The Twilight Deception is told in the first person, with lots of sass and snark. Unfortunately, though at times amusing, the snark is wielded with too heavy a hand, and overshadows the other emotions in Arielle’s landscape. Arielle herself is a bit of a conundrum. She mentions her not-inconsequential sexual experience repeatedly, but has remained in self-imposed celibacy for some time. The frequency with which this dichotomy is raised suggests that it plays an important role in Arielle’s personality and make-up, but it is never explained or elaborated on. Arielle, therefore, remains unformed in my mind, a snark without a cause, strong and cruel without reason. The reasoning behind her bitterness and solitude would have been a welcome addition.
This novella would also have benefited from added length. While key words in relationships may be “Always leave them wanting more,” in terms of plots and details, sometimes it’s best to be a little more specific. There was plenty of fodder here for a full length novel: Jackson’s background, for example, and his world. An explanation of the title, which didn’t really seem to fit the story. More on the FBI unit Arielle works for. Heck, more about Arielle. Even the ending felt rushed and unexplained, deus ex machina at work. I don’t know if Drake is planning on writing a sequel, or even expanding on this novella, but some information as to how the resolution came about would be appreciated.
Drake has captured the early attitude and strength of the Anita stories, but she’s missed the depth and personality insights.
Grade: D
Book Type: Urban Fantasy
Sensuality: Hot
Review Date: 21/12/06
Publication Date: 2006
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.