Back in May, if you’ll recall, I hosted author RJ Blain for a stop on her blog tour promoting the release of her latest book, Inquisitor.  Today, I’ve got a review for you!

I know, I’m a bit of a slow reader.  Life keeps happening.

Anyway, in case you don’t recall (or in case you missed it), here’s the blurb:

When Allison is asked to play Cinderella-turned-Fiancée at a Halloween ball, the last thing she expected was to be accused of murder on the same night. She has to find the killer and quick, or she’ll be put to death for the crimes she didn’t commit. To make matters worse, the victims are all werewolves.

On the short list of potential victims, Allison has to act fast, or the killer will have one more body to add to his little black book of corpses.

There’s only one problem: One of the deaths has struck too close to home, and Allison’s desire for self-preservation may very well transform into a quest for vengeance…

This is not the sort of novel I normally read.  I mean, obviously I like fantasy since I write it myself, but I’m not normally into the whole werewolf/vampire/insert-other-fantasy-creature-of-your-choice-here sort of thing (though, oddly enough, I do like – okay, love – a good ghost story).  But this wasn’t just another werewolf/vampire/insert-other-fantasy-creature-of-your-choice-here love story.  Sure, there was love after a fashion, but it was the love between two women who are closer than sisters.  There were the bonds of pack, which I equated with the love of family.  Romance there was not.

Anyway, the suspense in this book was very well done.  Once I started really reading (meaning the kids were in bed and I could actually concentrate), I found it very hard to put down.  There were a couple of twists near the end as you find out who the killer really is, and I totally didn’t see them coming (again, trying to avoid spoilers, so just read the book already).

The characters were compelling and (mostly) believable.  They also kept me guessing about their motivations, which kept me reading till the very end (I was up till 2:00 a.m. the other night trying to finish this book).  There was plenty of action, the pacing was fantastic, and I wound up loving it.

That said, the further I read, the more inconsistencies I noted.  The majority of the book is clean and well-edited, but by the last fourth or so, a few spelling and grammar errors popped up (extra letters, extra/missing words, that kind of thing).  I had to read a couple parts more than once.  Also, I was tired, so my eyes played a couple of tricks on me.

There was also some inconsistency with the main character’s name.  In the beginning, her real name is given as Allison Victoria Mayfield Hanover, but at the end, it’s listed as Victoria Allison Mayfield Hanover.

There are also several mentions of Saigon.  This wouldn’t be a problem, except that they all seem to refer to Saigon being in Korea.  Saigon is in Vietnam, and so this really threw me, since Saigon fell twenty-some years after the Korean War was ended with a truce.  This would be easy enough to fix without messing up the story.

I’m still not clear an a couple of the apparent antagonists’ motivations (again, trying to avoid spoilers here) at the end, and there were a couple reviews on Amazon that I thought made some very good points.

Despite all that, I really enjoyed this book.  It’s the first book I’ve read by RJ Blain, and it’s well worth the read.  She has a couple of others available that look intriguing as well, and I will definitely be reading more by her in the future.

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