Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Caroled
SERIES: The Bureau
AUTHOR: Kim Fielding
PUBLISHER: Tin Box Press
LENGTH: 119 pages
RELEASE DATE: November 19, 2020
BLURB:
Charles Grimes hasn’t celebrated Christmas in years, so spending December in San Francisco while keeping an eye out for monsters sounds like an easy way to earn a few bucks. He should have learned by now that nothing is ever easy—not his job, not his existence as the son of an angel, and not his relationship with a formerly captive demon. It’s going to take more than a few rounds of Jingle Bells to make Charles feel the joys of the season.
REVIEW:
Note: This is book seven in this series. For maximum enjoyment, reading Corrupted will give you the background on Charles and Ten (this story contains a few spoilers for that story), but it works as a standalone as well.
Charles Grimes is a former agent for the Bureau of Trans-Species Affairs. He quit nearly three years earlier (1939) after releasing a demon he was sent to destroy. But his former boss, the West Coast Division Chief, comes to him to ask for his help. He’s down some agents and he needs someone to watch San Fransciso for him for a few weeks while his agent team there, Donne and Ferencz, is out of commission. So Charles and his partner, Ten, head to San Francisco on the Bureau’s dime.
When they meet with the team that is on leave due to an injury to one of the men, Charles is happy to hear that things are relatively quite at this time of year. The holiday seem to be a quiet period for the things that go bump in the night. Oh, they have the minor run-ins, but nothing major. They get their contacts and keep a watch on things. Nothing seems to be to crazy except that men are going missing. No bodies are being found though, so they aren’t sure what to make of it.
Charles and Ten spend their days in their swanky hotel suite and their evenings prowling the streets making sure nothing troublesome is happening. The have a couple of interesting encounters that lead to some surprises for Charles. But when one of the contacts provided by the local agent team goes missing, it becomes apparent that there is more afoot that was obvious. While searching for the missing men, Charles nearly becomes the next victim.
This was a really fascinating story! I had read Corrupted, but not Conned (which I’m going to rectify soon) and I was anxious to see what was happening with Charles and Tenrael. As usual, this author sets a very atmospheric tone with the story. San Francisco, as it should, becomes a character in this story. It’s certainly a city that is so unique it’s hard to imagine anything else just like it, so the descriptions of the people, places and time are vividly brought to life. The war years in San Francisco must have been so different – the huge number of intakes to the military and the war effort industry bringing in labor changed a lot about the city. Charles and Ten’s wanderings kept me engaged to see where they would go next. Anyone who has spent time there understand what a dynamic city it is and all that is a big part of the backdrop to this story.
There isn’t a lot of “action” per se in this one, but what there is brings the reader to the edge of the seat to see how Charles and Ten will be able to handle the monsters they encounter. There are new monsters in this story and that was most interesting. The other great part of this story was the relationship between Charles and Ten and how they grow into it and also their friendship with Donne and Ferencz. I so enjoyed the changing and deepening trust and love and confidence because of the mutual support between Charles and Ten. Donne and Ferencz welcomed them without hesitation and the friendship between the four of them was lovely – particularly around the holiday celebrations. I really hope that we will see future glimpses of these four. Recommended particularly for fans of WWII era stories and urban fantasy.
RATING: 
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