Shadows in the Darkness (Changeling)

Rating:
Summary: will remind readers of Jim Butcher's Dresden files
Review: After a decade on the Providence police force thirty-four years old Gwen "GiGi" Gelman works undercover for the vice squad when a bust turns ugly. Several people die and someone must take the fall. Classic example of sh*t going downhill occurs; GiGi is fired.

Needing to eat, GiGi opens up a private investigative firm that seems to be doing well especially when she deftly handles a molester giving up his day job as a Catholic school teacher. Her current case is to find a missing teen. As the inquiries spin between abduction and runaway, GiGi begins to find she stunningly has psychic powers and starts to ascertain that she is not quite human. As she learns more about her elfish genetic makeup, her investigation propels her to apply her vice squad experience as an undercover operator looking into the Underhill gentlemen only club where children perform erotic dances. The inquiries begin to spin into something greater than a missing teen as a conspiracy involving her family ties surface with the club's owner Ian Forest assisting GiGi, who cannot understand why he would aid the apparent enemy.

SHADOWS IN THE DARKNESS is an excellent private investigative tale starring a delightful unique protagonist, an elf. The story line makes believers out of readers that Elaine Cunningham's realm exists as the author cleverly introduces her heroine via the mystery. GiGi is a terrific champion struggling with her case and her new knowledge about her heritage that is dangerous to her elfish health. Private investigative fantasy fans will appreciate this fabulous opening novel that will remind readers of Jim Butcher's Dresden files.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: Genre bending fantasy mystery
Review: After ten years working Vice on the Providence, RI Police Department, Gwen "GiGi" Gellman retires to become a PI specializing in family cases--particularly runaways and kidnaps--kids who get buried in the system.

Frankly, Gwen is good at these cases. She, too, has been lost in the system. She also has a special knack for finding people from clues on the scene. Is she a psychic or something else? The only thing Gwen knows is that her powers are getting stronger.

Her current case is locating Meredith Cody, teenaged daughter of Ryan Cody--a prominent Providence criminal attorney. While trying to find the girl, Gwen discovers her own past. Gwen Gellman isn't exactly human....

Good edgy novel that's a serious page turner. The big problem I see is this book is obviously serialized fiction. While Cunningham did wrap up enough of the main thread to please me, I'm not delighted I have to wait another year to get the answer to some other questions.

Rating:
Summary: Solid and fun, but not her best
Review: Shadows in the Darkness delivers a rapid, "Killing Time" [Caleb Carr] - like pace, full of dark humor and evil people you love to hate. Cunningham's knack for detail really shines in her narrative ability to describe a personality in titillating visual detail.

I bought this book because it looked interesting, but more, because it was Cunningham. I think her past works are all stellar. It seems like this one is more of a 'fun project', one the author uses to play with some dirty, powerful and extremely vulgar ideas she probably wouldn't be able to squeeze into one of her other pieces. It's a book you want to read just because of that; you know she's having fun, and if you can put your mind's criticism's aside, you will too. If you like her work and/or this genre, buy the book, both to read it and out of respect...not to mention there's two more coming, hopefully improved beyond the first.

As for the criticisms, they are minor if you don't dwell on them [I read this in three days, and didn't have time to]. The whole thing feels like it's on a constant caffeine-high, not changing pace or tempo for a little contrast. There are actually a few moments of slight relaxation, and I think these would have definitely done a much better job of balancing out the book
if they weren't written as concisely as the more buzzy stuff.

Also, many characters seem one-dimensional until later on in the book. The dialogues are always fast-paced, and it felt like even while someone was being rounded out, it didn't feel like that...in other words, much of the rounding out occurred in the narration rather than the dialogue. However, in the last 20% of the book when you can DEFINITELY tell everything's speeding up for an intense climax, Cunningham's artistry shines at its prime; the whole story becomes crazy and a little more believable, and many surprises don't seem as implausible.

In a nutshell, this book is fun, probably much more so if you're not so analytical! You'd re-read it for the fun, not for figuring out the depth.

Enjoy!