There’s a fine veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead and only a rare individual can walk pull it back and walk in both worlds. Reluctantly, Harper Blaine has recently become one of those singular individuals. And her life has taken a unique and terrifying twist.
Written by Kat Richardson, Greywalker tells the opening tale of private investigator, Harper Blaine. Tough and street smart, Harper is one tough cookie … tough enough to survive being dead for two minutes. But is she tough enough to handle the supernatural underbelly of Seattle?
I first came across this novel when I attended World Con when it was in Los Angeles in 2006. One of the freebies I picked up was a sampler book … a book with sample chapters from several like-themed books … called “Urban Noir.” The sample from Greywalker stood out for me, so when I saw a copy at my local GoodWill, I grabbed it.
I’m glad I did. Greywalker was an entertaining … albeit incomplete read. Yes, the main story, that of a haunted artifact an the evil ghost that was trying to get it back, was satisfactorily completed. But there were so many sub-stories that are still left hanging.
For one, there are romantic undertones (and overtones) between Harper and a strange, almost transient, handyman who installs her early alarm system. Who is he really? and Why does he seem to know what Harper had no clue about until she woke up from being dead?
And what about that truly evil vampire … as apposed to all the other in the local community … who seems to have played a hand in Harper becoming a greywalker in the first place? He works as a local night-time DJ, but has some truly scary powers and a hidden master plan in which he claims Harper plays an important roll.
As the novel drew me in, with it’s weave of words, intrigue and very will fleshed out characters (even those without flesh have a 3-dimensional personae), my mind filled with questions. It is obvious by the way the novel is interlaced with partially-told story lines that this is the first in a series of books. Well done Ms. Richardson, you’ve got me hooked.
Now I have to go out and buy Poltergeist, Underground and Vanished. Erg.
Anyway, if you want to read a story that entwines supernatural intrigue with more mundane private I. procedural, then you can’t go wrong with Greywalker. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, although I would have liked a few more loose ends to be tied up.
SCORE: 4 out of 5 Palm Trees Possible
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