Mercy Blade / Faith Hunter

4 stars out of 5

Things are heating up in the Big Easy. Weres have announced their existence to the world, and revived the bitter tensions that run between them and their old enemies: vampires.

As a trusted employee of Leo Pellissier, Blood Master of the City, Jane finds herself caught in the cross fire. When Jane is attacked by a pack of marauding werewolves, she is thankful for the help of a mysterious stranger named Girrard. He explains that he used to be Leo's 'Mercy Blade,' a sacred position charged with killing vampires who have gone insane.

What Jane doesn't know is why this powerful assassin left New Orleans--or, more troubling, why he's now returned. It's definitely not to make Jane's life easier...

I enjoyed this installment of Jane Yellowrock in spite of myself!  It’s only book three, and already Hunter has introduced werewolves to the mix.  Not that I mind them too much, just that I like vampires so much better.  Jane runs into them by accident—or was it an accident?  Can she know how much vampire master Leo is manipulating her life?

One of the reasons that I like Jane so much is that she bestows nicknames on the people around her.  That’s one of my bad habits—giving names to those people who I see frequently, but don’t really know.  I guess I’m glad to know that other people do the same thing.

If one thing troubles me, it’s that Jane is such a doormat when it comes to the men in her life.  However, she is so ultra-competent in her professional life that she would be positively Mary-Sue-ish if she didn’t have a major flaw, and this is it.  And really, who hasn’t been torn from time to time, wondering if you’ve chosen the right guy?  Jane has the added complication of Beast to deal with—trying to please two strong female personalities is a tough job for one guy.  She may need two or three!