cover image Wicked Hour

Wicked Hour

Chloe Neill. Berkley, $16 trade paper (368p) ISBN 978-0-399-58711-5

Generational clashes within a clan of shape-shifters dominate the lively second installment of the Heirs of Chicagoland series (following Wild Hunger). When shifter Connor Keene, prince of the North American Central Pack, hears there are problems in one of the pack’s clans in Minnesota, he invites his friend Elisa Sullivan, a bitingly snarky vampire, to go with him to intervene. He wants her opinion as an outsider, but also as someone he can see a potential future with. If he can get the archaic, patriarchal elders of the Minnesota clan to accept a vampire, maybe the rest of the pack will, too. When unknown creatures launch an attack on the clan and nearby townspeople, Elisa saves a life by turning someone into a vampire without first getting consent from either the victim or the clan elders, putting the alliance between shifters and vampires at risk. Connor and Elisa must find the attackers if they hope to save the clan, the alliance, and themselves. Elisa is a fierce and endearing heroine readers will root for. This urban fantasy is a treat. Agent: Lucienne Diver, The Knight Agency (Dec.)