Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Shift Work
SERIES: Night Shift
AUTHOR: T.A. Moore
PUBLISHER: Rogue Firebird Press
LENGTH: 117 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 19, 2021
BLURB:
You’d think the werewolves would be the worst thing about the Night Shift; you’d be wrong.
All Officer Kit Marlow wanted was a cup of coffee and some downtime before his next night shift. Instead, he got a naked man in the elevator and an unaccounted-for dead girl in the morgue. He’s going to need to deal with both before he can head for his bed.
Or anyone else’s. Although not much chance of that.
Reluctantly partnered with the acerbic security consultant Cade Deacon—last seen naked in the elevator—Marlow delves into the dead girl’s life. Between them, they uncover a new crime scene with the whiff of old corruption. A corruption that, five years ago, nearly took Marlow’s life and ended his career.
Finding out who killed the dead girl on the slab might only be the start of this investigation. Oh, and it’s the second night of the full moon. So 80% of the city, including Cade, will turn into werewolves in the middle of the case.
So, there’s that.
REVIEW:
Kit Marlow is a Night Shift San Diego Police Department officer. This is not an easy job for a Null (non-werewolf). That means he gets to cover the nights, including the full moons – when the werewolves come out to play, hunt, otherwise wreak havoc. It’s definitely not a fun job, but very necessary. But on this particular post full-moon morning, he is on his way to check back in when he runs into Cade Deacon at his SDPD station. They then get pulled into a death investigation of a girl who has been dumped in the morgue without any proper paperwork or explanation.
When the girl is tied to the Reserve, the exclusive enclave that is secured through Cade’s firm, Cold Winds Security, Cade becomes more interested in finding out what happened where and how. Because if it happened in the Reserve, the publicity would be horrific for him. It also turns out that the way in which this whole “drop off” and lack of apparent protocol being followed is reminiscent of a situation that happened in the past. This seem to implicate or at least point to Kit somewhat because of his possible involvement back then. He was nowhere near the scene of the crime, as it were, though, so maybe someone else is pulling these strings, trying to set him up? Trying to start something a bit unsavory again?
Just below the surface is a simmering attraction between Kit and Cade – always interesting between a Null and a werewolf. Cade’s an aggressive and kind of condescending guy and Kit can never tell just quite how to take what he says. But at one point, their attraction boils over a bit. Nothing too shocking, but it’s definitely there and something that maybe they want to pursue, but nightfall and the case keep getting in the way. When it becomes obvious that there is something bigger than this one girl going on, they pursue the responsible party through an interesting mystery and twist that I didn’t see coming. But just when we think things might calm down for a night, nope. We have no idea where this is going next, but both Cade and Kit are definitely in danger and whatever is happening is a LOT bigger than this one case!
So fair warning, the book ends on a cliffhanger. I wasn’t exactly expecting that. If you’re a person who hates cliffhangers, just be forewarned. This is a promising start to a new series, but I honestly would have liked a little more insight into this world. A world with 80% shifters seems like maybe it needs a little more description and fundamentals of the rules. From what I could gather, if a null is killed during the full moon, it’s kind of an oh well, they should have known better than to be out kind of a scenario. Is this the result of shifters having the power to make it so by law? I was confused about intervening with the wolf attack that Kit has to deal with on the second night of the story. One other point, how is there a second night of the full moon? From my distant recollection of my college astronomy course (which I loved BTW), there is just one night of the full moon because the next night starts the waning gibbous phase which is approximately. And then there is a third night that Cade is going to shift? I got a little confused by that, but first night (or morning after), the dead girl shows up, then second night Kit saves the baby and then the third night, it seems Cade will shift again? I’m really intrigued but this and want to know a lot more. I also want to know more about Kit and Cade’s pasts because it’s just teased in this book. If you’re looking for things to be neatly tied up in a bow, then this is not the book for you. But if’ you’re looking for a new spin on urban fantasy and werewolves and can wait for the next book to complete the picture, then I recommend you pick up this new series. Particularly recommended for UF, shifter and mystery lovers.
RATING:
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