Night Shift

Overall score:

Sometimes the world can be a dark and frightening place.  Jill Kismet knows all about just how dark and frightening, because when all hell breaks loose she’s the one turning back the tide.  Jill Kismet is a hunter with an edge, one that’s almost as dangerous to her as the things she hunts.  She walks a very narrow line between the good guys and the bad guys, never knowing if she’ll tumble over the edge.

Night Shift, by Lilith Saintcrow comes out on June 24^th.  As seems to be the trend right now Night Shift is about a completely kick-butt heroine in a supernatural world.  Jill Kismet is a hunter, taking on things that are too much for the local law enforcement and generally making things safer for the rest of the population going about their normal lives.  Night Shift is the first in a series, and opens up a fascinating world of shifters, hellbreed, hunters, sanctuaries, and everything in between.  It reads fast, the narrative moving at a breakneck pace that gives you space to breathe only in spurts and fits, so hang on for the ride.

In this first novel Jill is facing the reality of being on her own without the support of her mentor, who was recently killed.  Something has been killing randomly in town, with such extreme violence that the victims are in pieces, and she’s determined to find out what and put a stop to it.  She’s joined by the local law enforcement who have lost their own to the menace, and a handful of shifters following both federal law and their own clan rules.  

The mystery that’s set up harkens back to classic stories and I’d figured out what was going on by about halfway through, but it was still very satisfying to see through to the end.  The characters are well rounded and I became emotionally invested in their well being and the relationships being built, and not just the romantic ones.  I love what Ms. Saintcrow has done with setting up the rules of her universe.  Shifters with a domestic streak is such a unique angle and completely cracked me up and made me want my own cooking.

These days it seems like you can pick up just about any urban fantasy novel and find a strong female character, so what makes Jill any different?  Maybe nothing, but I found I related to her.  I like how Jill faces her religious beliefs and how she deals with the stress of knowing some people are more afraid of her than what she hunts.  I like her little insecurities and how she creates and holds lines of behavior that she won’t cross.  I’ve read several other series where I ended up hating the heroine because she made a stand about what she won’t do, and then, for no real reason I could relate to or reason with, crossed and danced merrily on her own stance.  Jill wavers, but pulls herself through, and in the end I want to see her win.  I want to see the results of her struggles.  And I want to know just how many spare pairs of boots, coat and leather pants she owns!

This is a great start to what I’m hoping will be a long-lived series.  Contentwise it’s violent, gorey and the language is definitely rated ‘not for kids’, so if these things are a turn off for you then you might want to wait for a library copy or give it a miss.  Otherwise… Welcome to the Night Shift.

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Written by Jana Stocks/jenarey on June 27th, 2008