Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson #7)
Urban Fantasy
March 5, 2013
Orbit

Reviewed by Mandi

Favorite Quote: He laughed again, and his body softened as much as it ever did – there just wasn’t much soft about Adam. “I love you,” he said.

“I know,” I told him seriously. “How could you help it?”

While the Mercy Thompson series is an absolute favorite of mine, the past couple of books have been a little on the slower side for me. But I am happy to say, Frost Burned brings back the fun action and world building I’ve come to expect from this series. And before I go any further, let me also say –

We get two full chapters of Adam Hauptman POV.

I’ll give you a minute to recover from this. Because yes, it is that fabulous.

Frost Burned starts with Adam and almost his entire pack being kidnapped by possible federal agents (although everyone is pretty sure they are rogue, human radicals). To take down almost 30 werewolves means these guys are serious and must have a lot of power and knowledge about the werewolf community. What Adam soon learns is that these rogue agents want to set-up the shifters by having Adam assassinate a senator to look bad in the public eye, as public perception of the supernatural population is on very thin ground. Pumped full of silver and drugs, Adam must play these kidnapper games to keep his pack safe, all the while concerned for his Mercy and his daughter Jesse, who have yet to be kidnapped.

Mercy and Jesse were out shopping when it all went down. Unable to get ahold of anyone after getting into a fender bender, Mercy starts to panic. Eventually she finds Gage (Jesse’s love interest), Ben (the only werewolf able to escape – I love me some Ben) and Kyle (Warren’s partner). The three of them along with some help from Stefan (I love this vampire too)  set out on a plan to keep Jesse hidden and safe and try to figure out where Adam is being kept and how to get them all out.

I think the Mercy/Kyle/Ben dynamic is a really nice in here. While Mercy is quite upset and panicked that Adam is in danger, using their bond she is able to reach out to him and she knows he is still alive. She actually “visits” him on two occasions through a dream of sorts too, which gives her a tiny peace of mind. Even with the dark cloud hanging over them, this book is still full of some lighter moments, especially when Mercy takes Marsilia’s (head vampire queen) car from her shop (it was in for an oil change). The car is a really fancy expensive model and let’s just say, while Mercy has every intention of just harmlessly borrowing it, horrible things happen to this car which is quite amusing.

When I first read the blurb and noticed that Adam was kidnapped, I was bummed he wasn’t going to be in the book very much, but I was wrong. As I said, we get two chapters of his POV and he has a lot of page time. I really enjoyed what we get between him and Mercy in this book. Now married, they have such a mature relationship, and by getting Adam’s POV, we get insight into how proud he is of Mercy, but also how fragile he thinks she is and his overwhelming need to keep her safe.

I have to give Patricia Briggs a lot of credit for the way she writes her shifters. She makes their wolf part of them, so realistic. So violent, so feral, so….not human. Adam has to make some decisions in this book that are hard core, and I love that she shows the reader his complete alpha side. We see the ramifications of pissing off the leader of the pack. We see the ramifications of supernatural power and how human police also need to follow through with their procedures. This author portrays so well how a shifter world would integrate into a  human world and is really careful with the details. And that is something I really appreciate with this series. As well as the fabulous characters – all of them, even the small supporting ones add so much to each book. Such a well done urban fantasy world. I really enjoyed.

Rating: B+

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