Dead Heat (Alpha and Omega #4) by Patricia Briggs (2015)

As usual, I am impressed with Briggs’s creativity and writing. There were times, as I read this, where I had to just stop because I was amazed at how much she communicated with so few words, through showing rather than telling us. And this was quite a story. 

Anna’s birthday is around the corner and Charles is looking for a special birthday gift that she won’t be uncomfortable with. (She doesn’t like the ostentatious jewelry he and Brother Wolf like to buy her.) It gives him an opportunity to see an old and dear friend after 20 years. Once there, Charles discovers that Joseph is dying from lung cancer. His father, Hosteen, is the Alpha of the local werewolf pack and doesn’t understand why Charles won’t save his son; Joseph doesn’t want to turn but Hosteen doesn’t want to lose his son. 

Not long after they arrive, Joseph’s daughter-in-law, Chelsea, leaves a scary message on her husband’s phone. About blood and being afraid for their children and something being wrong with her. The incident reveals the malevolence of this new Fae war on humans: a Fae put a compulsion on Chelsea to butcher her children and then kill herself. In the aftermath, Charles and Anna hunt for the Fae and work to stop the Simulacrums that they've left behind.

One of the great things about this story is that we get to see FBI agent Leslie Fisher again and also meet two very cool Trippers. CNTRP Agent Leeds is half-Fae and Marsden is whip-smart, loyal to a fault, and both men work for CNTRP not out of a prejudice against the paranormal, but with a healthy respect of it and a desire to help people, regardless of their genetic makeup. I am hoping that future stories continue to involve this trio.

As usual, Briggs unfolds the story with great skill, interweaving the action with Anna and Charles’s debate about having children. Anna wants them and knows that Charles wants them too, but Charles is afraid of what might happen if he ever became a father. Anna can take care of herself, but a child... 

I’m really glad that Briggs created this offshoot of the Mercy Thompson series because of how it expands this world that she’s created as well as giving us some really great characters and stories that I love. A well-deserved 5 stars.

Note about the audiobook: as usual, the narrator does a great job of accents, especially the cadence and tone of a Native American speaker. He always make his stories interesting. 5 stars.