Introduction
Sleight of Hand (Bite Back #1)
by Mark Henwick
Before reading Sleight of Hand, I was beginning to wonder if I was completely done with urban fantasy. The genre is full of cookie cutter kick-ass heroines that are uninspired copies of Anita Blake. Many of these novels are well written, but lack a distinctive voice.
With Mark Henwick’s debut novel, I fell in love again. Amber is a character that I have rarely seen and is difficult to write. She is consistently smart, effective, and logical. It could have been a recipe for a dull story, but it was anything but. Even though she is so amazing and effective, Amber is still flawed in ways that make her interesting.
Genre / Intended audience
Urban Fantasy
Fans of urban fantasy will enjoy this book. It is adult book with graphic violence and sexual innuendo, but no explicate sex.
Narration
First person, past tense narrated by the main character Amber Farrell
Characters Amber Farrell - Private investigator, former covert ops, and slowly transforming from her encounter with a vampire
Captain Morales - Police detective who occasionally hires Amber
Tullah - Amber’s assistant
Jennifer Kingslund - CEO of the Kingslund Group and Amber’s client
Colonel Laine - Amber’s amy handler
Troy - Jennifer’s missing employee
Matthew Bierbach - Jenn’s computer guy
Victor Gayle - another PI that Amber subcontracts to
Lieutenant Henry Krantz - an army investigator checking into Amber
Mary - Tullah’s mother
Kathleen - Amber’s sister and probably the worst person ever
David - Aspirant Athanate
Diana Ionache - an Athanate of house Altau
Bian Hwa Trang - an Athanate of house Altau
Skylur - Athanate, head of house Altau
Luc Marla - the leader of the Athanate Basilikos
Alex - a werewolf
Setting
Denver, present day
Theme
Discovery and self acceptance.
Plot
When we meet Amber, she is a PI with a past. While in a secret unit in the army, she was attacked and bitten by a vampire (who call themselves Athanates). The army has been monitoring her for two years since the attack to see if she will become a vampire. They have developed a way to monitor prions in her blood that seem to indicate that, while the process appears to be slow, she is steadily becoming less human.
Amber juggles a case for a rich client, Jennifer Kingslund, her rapidly accelerating metamorphosis into a vampire, her ongoing work for the army’s investigation into the ‘weird’ aka vampires, werewolves, and possibly other supernatural elements, and finally her own personal life. It turns out that all of these threads are related.
Amber discovers (or confirms) the existence of werewolves who play a minor part in this story, but things are set up for them to possibly play a larger role in book 2.
While investigating apparent attacks on Jennifer Kingslund’s interests, things become increasingly intimate between client and PI. Meanwhile, Amber makes contact with the vampires and finds out they call themselves Athanates. They fall into two political factions - one faction wants to live peacefully with humans and insists turning humans must be voluntary and with full disclosure of the risks. The other, well, not so much in favor of human rights. It isn’t a terribly original trope, but it is the logical dichotomy given the nature of immortal beings who were once human.
About the Author
This is Mark Henwick’s debut novel. The Bite Back series is his only one so far, but he is definitely a writer keep your eye on.
My Opinion
I loved Amber and I loved this story. At every turn, she is kick-ass, but not by being magically better, faster, stronger, but by thinking and doing things the smart way. She calls the police when the situation calls for it. She always has back-up. She depends on experts to do work that needs specialized skills. You know that moment in a television show or a movie when you want to yell at the main character ‘don’t do it! It’s a trap!’? I never felt like saying that to Amber because she is just too smart to get snookered like that.
Amber does have some enhanced abilities like strength and speed, but the author never over uses those. Above all, Amber remains compelling because of who she is, not what she is becoming. At the beginning of the novel, she hopes to remain human and has a negative view of Athanates; she ends the novel in a different place. The author brings her there slowly and surely in a way that feels organic. There is no doubt she is a different person at the end, but her change never feels forced.
In addition to the main character being so well written, every secondary character feels real and complex even if we don’t get to see them fleshed out. I never felt that any one was a cardboard cutout - even the bad guys.
The book is absolutely five star awesome up until about the 60% mark where is does sag a bit. At this point she has met the Athanates, has proof positive that there are werewolves, and is introduced to yet another supernatural group – witches who call themselves Adepts. This doesn’t prove important to the story at hand and sort of slows things down. It seems like something better introduced in book two. Even the werewolves who are hinted at from nearly the beginning of the book are not especially important to the story. We don’t meet Alex, werewolf love interest and rival to Jenn for Amber’s affection until 80% into the book.
The book recovers from the slight slump and gallops to a satisfying finish. Amber is awesome to the end. We get several emotional kicks in the stomach from Amber’s sister and from Jenn. Amber takes down the bad guys, commits to an alliance to the local vampire house Altau all while managing to maintain her independence.
There are loose ends which I look forward to finding out more about in book two. The author does an excellent job of wrapping up the first book while laying the groundwork for the sequel.
There were so many things I loved about this book from Amber herself, to the excellent writing, to the complex secondary characters, and the slow and steady build up to relationships and alliances. Then there is the fact the romances are present and important, but no more so than the other elements. Instead of being front and center, Amber’s potential relationship with Jenn or Alex (or both) is just part of her life not an end or itself.
If you love urban fantasy and are looking for a fresh voice, this is it. Buy this book! I have rarely read a first novel so well crafted as Sleight of Hand. I can’t wait to read book 2. I think this series is going to be one of my favorites. One of the few negatives: Amber describes David as like a brother, but we never really get to know why. Like all the secondary characters, he feels real in his own right but I would have like to have seen more of their relationship.