Bone Crossed / Patricia Briggs (Mercy Thompson #4)

4 stars out of 5

Marsilia, the local vampire queen, has learned that Mercy crossed her by slaying a member of her clan. Now, she's out for blood. But since Mercy is protected from direct reprisal by the werewolf pack-and her relationship with its sexy Alpha-it's not Mercy's blood Marsilia is after...

 Finally, Stefan is back on the scene, still mysterious in motive, but protective to our heroine, Mercy. And that is despite his treatment by the local vampire seethe. (Isn’t that a great collective noun for vampires?)

This is also the book that sees Mercy make her choice between werewolves Adam and Samuel. I’m somewhat disappointed that she had to choose, rather than remaining independent. So often, once a choice is made, the sexual tension drains out of a series and it becomes less interesting. I will be interested to see how Briggs maintains the forward momentum.

Also of interest, Mercy continues to discover the special powers of a skinwalker that make her anathema to the mainstream vamps. She is extremely fortunate to have Stefan as a friend & protector and I hope this means that he will continue to appear in future volumes.

I still maintain that Mercy needs some women friends, and not like her friend Amber who shows up in this installment. She needs some strong, good women in her life to help her sort out all the demanding men in her world.

Once again, the cover art makes me shake my head. Who in the world are they trying to appeal to? Take my word for it, Mercy looks nothing like the covers.