D.D. Barant

[Maze353]

Anyone read Dying Bites (Bloodhound Files 1) by Barant? I looked at it in the store. It looks it would be up the alley of Ilona Andrews fans.

Amazon review:

FBI profiler Jace Valchek is abruptly yanked into a parallel universe where vampires, werewolves and golems are 99% of the population. The supernatural beings aren't affected by mental or physical disease, so they're baffled by the emergence of a crazed human killer. Vampire NSA chief David Cassius hopes Jace, who has special skills in dealing with mentally deranged criminals, can catch the Impaler. Until she succeeds, he won't let her go back home. As Jace investigates the Free Human Resistance, a terrorist group, she starts to wonder which side she wants to be on. Barant's well-developed world offers intriguing enhancements to mythology and history. Jace is remarkable, strong-willed and smart, and she sets an unstoppable pace. Look for the Bloodhound Files to go far.  

[NightIntent]

Ooo, that sounds neat. I'll have to check it out sometime!  

[Angleic Shadow]

That does sound really interesting; I'll have to check it out  

[Maze353]

Well, I went out and bought Dying Bites. It was good, not great, but good for a first novel. I liked the parallel world deal and how the heroine came to terms with her situation in a timely manner. The humour was sideways and enjoyable, the characters fairly lively.

My complaints: She had science/pop science references in there that were wrong. If you want science in your book, great just make sure its accurate. All the males wanted to jump Jace for some reason. Although, thankfully, this did not overtake the plot like it does in too many vampire/werewolf stories. Jace was brought in to profile mentally unstable criminals, but she never really did. She could have just been any old FBI agent and it would have worked just fine. And sometimes characters would pop up out of nowhere and never explain how they knew to be there or how the hell they got to the secret deserted island in the first place.

All in all, it was a decent read. I'll be looking for the next one in March.