A Rush of Wings

A Rush of Wings by Adrian Phoenix

The Maker's Song

ISBN# 978-1-4165-9365-2

Available now

Published by Pocket Books

Format: mm pbk., 490 pages (also available in trade pbk.)

Genres: fiction, dark fantasy, urban fantasy

I almost missed this series completely, and now I don't remember what gave me the sudden urge to go looking for this book.  After reading this I'm almost glad I waited so long because the second book, In the Blood, is out too so I can get right back to Dante and Heather.  I'll have to play the waiting game for the third book though since it's tentative release is January 2010.  You can also join her Yahoo! group (there's a link on her website) to get deleted scenes, contests, and information on her upcoming books and appearances.

Special Agent Heather Wallace has been on the trail of the so-called Cross-Country Killer for three years and now his handiwork has shown up in New Orleans.  His pattern has changed for some reason, he's leaving messages which could be a break for her, but bad for the person he's fixated on.  Heather's gut and this first crime scene tell her it's Dante he's after since the body and message were left against his club's wall, Club Hell.  When she can't find anything on Dante in the system she pays a visit to the club to question him and offer protection, but instead she ends up feeling like she fell down the rabbit hole.  In the club fangs flash and words like "Nightkind", "the Fallen", and "the Council" get thrown around leaving Heather with a really bad feeling.  She tries to maintain that all the vampire stuff is just an act, but she's too damn good of an agent not to believe the evidence when it keeps happening right in front of her.  Vampires turn out to be the easiest thing to believe in when she sees Lucien open his wings up for the first time anyway.  Dante insists he can take care of himself, but then two of his best friends end up dead.  With the grief and rage nearly tearing him apart it's pretty clear he needs a friend more than he needs a bodyguard.  Heather and Dante seem to be falling for each other pretty hard, but when she uncovers a dark past he can't even remember can she live with the truth of what he's capable of?

This took me back a few years, to when I first got into vampire books.  Two of the first vampire books I ever read were The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice and Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite and until this book I'd forgotten what a dark, angsty, sensual atmosphere could do for a book.  Not many authors even bother with atmosphere anymore, their settings don't invoke a tingle down the spine before anything has even happened, or an image of bodies in a candlelit bedroom where your wildest dreams can take place.  I thought that maybe the city of New Orleans had something to do with it, but other authors set their books there without evoking this sense of mystery, sensuality, and timelessness.  The thriller side of the book is pretty good too.  Special Agent Heather Wallace may be drawn to Dante, but above all she wants to catch her serial killer and E is definitely a crazy whack-job of a killer.  There is absolutely nothing redeeming about him, but there never really is about real sociopaths.  I think she nailed the profile of a sociopath quite well by the way.  With the serial killer and Dante's very tortured past this book might be too dark for some, but if you like horror, thrillers, or true crime sort of stories with your very sexy vampires you will love this book.

Zhye