Fair Game

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Manufacturer: Patricia Briggs
Brand: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy Fiction, Contemporary Fantasy, Thriller
Brew: Audiobook
Steeping Time: 9 hours 58 minutes
Tea Service: Book Club
Strength:

Synopsis: They say opposites attract. And in the case of werewolves Anna Latham and Charles Cornick, they mate. The son – and enforcer – of the leader of the North American werewolves, Charles is a dominant alpha. While Anna, an omega, has the rare ability to calm others of her kind.
Now that the werewolves have revealed themselves to humans, they can’t afford any bad publicity. Infractions that could have been overlooked in the past must now be punished, and the strain of doing his father’s dirty work is taking a toll on Charles.

Nevertheless, Charles and Anna are sent to Boston, when the FBI requests the pack’s help on a local serial killer case. They quickly realize that not only the last two victims were werewolves – all of them were. Someone is targeting their kind. And now Anna and Charles have put themselves right in the killer’s sights…

I’d like to start this review by being upfront.

I don’t care for werewolves. Or vampires. I just never got into those worlds and genres. I do love other magical creatures. Give me witches or fairies or wizards. I play D&D every Thursday night, so fantasy-based stories are something I adore. I’ve just never been a fan of werewolves. They never piqued my interest.

Fair Game by Patricia Briggs was what my book club chose to read for April 2021. While this book wasn’t a top choice for me, I read it anyway. That’s something that I love about our book club. It encourages me to read books that I otherwise would never pick up.

I rented the audiobook from the library. At first, I wasn’t sure I would enjoy the narrator, but he turned out to be one of my favorite parts of this book (his name is Holter Graham). Without him narrating, I don’t know if I’d have enjoyed it as much. Fair Game is the third book in the Alpha and Omega series, but I felt that it did rather well as a stand-alone book. I did feel like I was missing information on a few things, but I think that was more to do with the fact that I’m not familiar with werewolf/pack culture within the genre rather than having not read the first two books.

This book focuses mainly on Anna and Charles.

They are husband and wife, and Anna is worried about the mental well-being of Charles, who has been the heavy hand of the law in the werewolf community. He is becoming distant and moody. After Anna has multiple chats with people, Charles’s father is finally convinced that Charles needs a break from being the enforcer. What better distraction than to send Anna and Charles to work with the FBI to track down a serial killer.

During their first meeting with the FBI, Anna and Charles notice that all of the victims have been werewolves, something the FBI has missed. Soon after this meeting, a young woman goes missing in the same style as the other victims. The clock is ticking down. Will they be able to find her before time runs out?

So, back to the ‘werewolves aren’t my jam’ thing. While they may not be, serial killers and murder investigations are. I think this is probably the most perfect werewolf story that our book club could have chosen. It pairs something that I’m highly interested in with something that I’m not. I really enjoyed that, and it opened my mind to try a new genre.

For the most part, I found the storyline suspenseful, quick, and enjoyable.

Some parts seemed to drag for me, but those were mostly scenes that had to do with pack issues and not the FBI investigation. Overall, I really enjoyed the plot. I also loved some of the other characters that we meet throughout the book. I liked the creepy witches quite a bit, but my favorite secondary character was Alistair Beauclaire. It’s a massive spoiler, so I won’t talk about it, but if there were a sequel that picked up where he left off, I’d read it in a heartbeat. He is fae and I’m intrigued by his people and their history. Where they go from the end of the book is something I’d love to know!

I only have one complaint about Fair Game. I’ve never been a fan of detailed sex scenes in books. Not because I’m shy around sex scenes (I devoured Bridgerton on Netflix and have watched a few seasons of Outlander), but more so because I find READING sex scenes entirely awkward. There are so many times when I’m reading and simultaneously shouting “WHO SAYS THAT?!” at the same time. There were two sex scenes in this book, which is fine, no biggie, but one of them was ridiculously random.

Like, ‘outside in the middle of a hunt for a killer while well within earshot of your other work companions’ random.

One thing I did appreciate about that, however, is that the characters acknowledged it themselves afterward. I thought that was well done! The woman in our book club who suggested Fair Game has read all of the others and she said it makes a little more sense if you know more about their characters from the previous books. Again, werewolf things that I’m not familiar with but that made sense after she explained it.

Some of the women in our book club thought that the action was too focused at the end of the book and that it should have been more spread out. I do feel like things happened quickly at the end, but I also feel like that’s par for the course in most murder/suspense novels. There is a lot of buildup and then BAM. Everything hits the fan. This book is also growing the story of Anna and Charles alongside the serial killer case, so room has to be made for that as well.

If you’re into werewolves, I think you’d really enjoy Fair Game and, quite possibly, the entire series. If you don’t care for werewolves but enjoy serial killer cases and a touch of fantasy, I think you’ll enjoy this book, too! It wasn’t what I’d normally pick up, but I enjoyed it. I think it is really well written, and again, Holter Graham kills it as a narrator.

Have you read Fair Game? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about it! Want to read it for yourself? Click here to get a copy of your own.
Cheers,
Lydia