Reviewed by Jen
TITLE: Smokescreen
SERIES: Knight & Daywalker #1
AUTHOR: Sam Burns
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 259 pages
RELEASE DATE: September 4, 2025
BLURB:
Flynn Knight is the only (and frankly, impossible) child of the leader of the vampires in Los Angeles. He’s also a bit of a scatterbrain, a thirty-something manchild, and a private investigator. When one of his mother’s political frenemies gets killed and she asks him to investigate, he’s put between a rock—her—and a hard place—the fact that not a single vampire in the city will believe the answers he finds without impressive proof to back him up.
Combine that with an eighty-thousand-dollar bill he has no idea how he’s going to pay, a hit and run that has landed him a victim of the cat distribution system, and his mother trying to foist a new business partner off on him, and his life is way more complicated than he likes.
At least his new partner is nice to look at, even if he’s the weirdest vampire ever, who doesn’t seem to follow any of the usual vampire rules.
Also, why won’t this kitten stop eating?
Smokescreen is set in the Fantastic Fluke universe, starring never before seen characters and a new setting. It begins to explore Flynn Knight’s relationships, and while it contains a complete story, it does not reach the slow burn romance plot, and the main overarching plot will continue in book two, Façade.
REVIEW:
I love finding a new world to submerge myself into and this one did just that. I really wasn’t too sure what to think going into this, other than hoping it was not going to disappoint. Thankfully, it did not. We slowly learn about this world through the eyes of Flynn, a young man who’s mom is the Senator of all the area vampires. She is rich and powerful and basically supportive and protective of Flynn, who we believe is a mere human. But, we quickly learn that there is a bit more to him than that, as he can actually speak with animals, some of which are amazing characters themselves. Suzy the watch-sloth, and of course, Plot Twist, the special ravenous kitty who basically claims Flynn as her own.
We learn little details about the various beings as Flynn is tasked by his mom to solve the murder of one of her vampire frenemies. She has also installed Davin, another vampire, to be his business partner. Davin handles security issues and is clearly not the average vamp, as he can eat and go out during the day. He has not been treated well by other vampires, although we really don’t get to the bottom of all things Davin in this installment. Needless to say, he and Flynn make a great team as their relationship grows. Seemingly there to keep an eye on Flynn and help keep him on track, Davin sees how much more there is to Flynn as they grow closer.
I admit I kept waiting to see if their relationship would blossom into something more, or if there was someone else in store for each of them. It never really did, although their bond clearly grew as they solved the mystery. I ended up just enjoying the story without the actual romance and found myself eating up the morsels of details we were given. While there were some answers, there are quite a few questions still lingering. There is a bit of a bomb dropped at the end about Flynn that felt like a bit of a cliffy, although the story itself was wrapped up rather nicely. Needless to say, I was not ready for this to end, and certainly not where it did. I sure hope we don’t have to wait too long to continue this series. I can’t wait to find out more about these characters and to delve deeper into this world. It was my first read by Sam Burns, but I am eager to check out more.
RATING: 
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