On the one hand, I don't think this book was brilliant exactly, but on the other hand, I did enjoy it, and most importantly, it didn't annoy me with vexing power dynamics even once. And it has werewolves and vampires, so it quite easily could have. No instalove either. I wouldn't be surprised if something happens in one of the later books, but no romance in this one. Instead, friendship/ good working relationships mostly. World building is quite standard, but the idea of solving your own murder is interesting. I do hope Emma is not going to be murdered continuously in the next books... I had my suspicions about the twist at the end from the beginning by the way, but not about the main storyline. ( )

Brimstone Bound
By Helen Harper
I loved this book, the start of a new series, of a gal wanting to be a detective and her last 2 week rotation is in the Supernatural Squad. Most thought people were assigned there if they did something bad but she was good at everything and seemed a good fit.
She ends up getting killed in a couple of days on the job and wakes up as a Jane Doe in the morgue. Her detective that was showing her the ropes is missing. So she is a newbie in the land of supernatural and has to figure out where her boss is and who killed her without getting killed again! But she gets help from a vampire, and not just any vampire!
Very entertaining!
Great narration! ( )

3.75 (seriously, can we start getting the ability to rate by increments??) ( )

Emma Bellamy er að klára útskrift í lögregluskóla þegar hún er send í verklega þjálfun í yfirnáttúrulegu deildinni. Hún verður fyrir miklum vonbrigðum því þessi deild mun vera alræmd fyrir að vera blindgata á framabrautinni. Ekki verður útlitið bjartara þegar hún kynnist starfsemi deildarinnar sjálfrar. En þá er hún myrt ... og það er bara upphafið á martröðinni.Þokkalegasta ungmennabók um samþættingu varúlfa og vampíra við nútímasamfélagið. ( )

For the past two days, it's been too hot (30C/86F and 80% humidity) to do anything other than find shade and drink cold liquids from large glasses. I wanted to read (of course) but I didn't want to have to work my brain too hard. I needed the book equivalent of a well-made margarita: cool, light, refreshing, easy to sip but with enough kick to keep you wanting more.

Fortunately, I had 'Brimstone Bound' the first book in a new series by Helen Harper to hand, which fit the bill perfectly.



Helen Harper, a Scottish writer based in Kuala Lumpur, is a prolific writer of Urban Fantasy. She published her first book 'Bloodfire' back in 2012 and now has forty-three books in ten series to her name.

I started with her original, compelling, dark, angst-ridden Bo Blackman Urban Fantasy series and later discovered her light, witty, laugh-out-loud, ever-so-slightly-RomCom Urban Fantasy. The Lazy Girl’s Guide To Magic Urban Fantasy series.

Her new Firebrand series, like the Bo Blackman series, is set in an alternative London in which supernaturals are known and legislated for parts of the British establishment. It's a lot lighter in tone than the Bo Blackman series but isn't a comedy like The Lazy Girl's Guide To Magic.

In 'Brimstone Bound' Emma Bellamy, who is two weeks away from graduating as a Metropolitan Police Detective, tells the story of what happens when, for her final assignment she is sent not to cybercrime as expected but to the only-screw-ups-get-sent-there Supernatural Squad, responsible for policing the city's Vampire and Werewolf populations, together with sundry other supernaturals. It wasn't the assignment that Emma wanted but she decides to make the best of it. She gets murdered on her first day on the job. After that, things get complicated.

This is an entertaining supernatural thriller with some good world-building, engaging characters, and a decent murder mystery. I liked that I (almost) always knew the broad direction of where the plot was going but still got some pleasant surprises on how it got there. The pacing worked. Emma is easy to like. The mystery is just twisty enough to keep me turning the pages, especially when solving the mystery meant that Emma had to learn a lot about the Supernatural world in a very short time.

'Brimstone Bound' did everything I wanted it to do and set the basis for a fun, entertaining series.

The hot weather is set to continue, so my next book is going to be 'Infernal Enchantment', the second book in the series.
( )