Dead Heat (Alpha & Omega, #4) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Jul 02, 2022 Midu Hadi rated it it was ok

Shelves: missing-shelf, middlers, reviewed, shifters, magick, witches, urban-fantasy, supes, couple-on-cover, 2015

The Plot
This one’s plot was very similar to the previous installment’s. The lead couple hunts for a serial killer but in a different place. Very predictable stuff.

And did we get an explanation for why Underhill did all of that? Not really. Why release the Doll Collector?

The Characters

Anna
What turned me off even worse was the treatment that Anna’s character received. If she wasn’t with Charles, her husband, then she was thinking about him. No other ambitions but becoming a mother. Additionally, k ...more

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Mar 24, 2015 Jesslyn rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: auto-buy-author, auto-buy-series, z2015-kindle-reads, library-book

This was a definate snack. After books by Seanan McGuire, Ilona Andrews, Sanderson and McClellan, the book--while good just seemed....short.

It wasn't bad--there was good characterization, lessons learned, blah, blah, blah, but it felt, IMO, like a book meant to keep the series going rather than integral to the series. ...more

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Mar 03, 2015 Rachel Willis rated it it was amazing

Shelves: witch, shifter, fae, native-american, paranormal, piece-of-awesome, books-read-in-2015

Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs
Five out of five stars, but only because there wasn't an option for a sixth.

To be fair, Briggs is my favorite author. I've read everything that she's written with a ravenous hunger, even her somewhat less popular Raven series (which I also loved). From the moment I discovered her Mercy Thompson series I was pulled into the magical way she constructs a world and haven't looked back.

At times, I've attempted to control myself in order to not always, always be waiting fo Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs
Five out of five stars, but only because there wasn't an option for a sixth.

To be fair, Briggs is my favorite author. I've read everything that she's written with a ravenous hunger, even her somewhat less popular Raven series (which I also loved). From the moment I discovered her Mercy Thompson series I was pulled into the magical way she constructs a world and haven't looked back.

At times, I've attempted to control myself in order to not always, always be waiting for her next book to come out. I once succeeded in tricking myself into forgetting that she'd put out a new book for so long that the next one came out before I realized it. The joy that I felt when I searched to see if her new book was out and found not one but two books waiting for me was as complete as the regret was encompassing after I received both and read them back to back over the course of a single day.

Discovering the Alpha & Omega series set me back on my heels and made me reevaluate how I ranked the fiction that I'd read in the past. If I'd thought I experienced adoration while reading the Mercy series it was nothing in comparison to the fangirl that took over my being upon meeting my favorite couple, Anna and Charles. I fully immersed myself into the world that Briggs created, complete with shifters and fae, and wished to never emerge.

Needless to say, I've been waiting for Dead Heat, the fourth installment of the Alpha & Omega series, since the moment I put down the third. My excitement upon finding it waiting for me at the library was palpable. I admit there was a bit of gloating, a little dancing, and more than one coworker might have glimpsed me cuddling the book at my desk.

I tried to resist, attempted to drag out the reading of the book, but I found myself unable. Instead I read the book as if it were my last, not rushing or getting ahead of myself, but slowly sinking into the story, letting the words wash over me and spin the world around me into the altered reality of the wolves of Briggs' imagination.

I intended to write a proper review of this book from the outset. I was going to mention the many small laughs I let out and how I couldn't help but smile at the characters during more than a few moments. When tears of sorrow filled my eyes I made a mental note to comment on how talented a writer one must be to first inform the reader that they will feel pain and then still strike them with it so hard that it reverberates through their body as they struggle to turn the pages. I wanted to notate the fact that Anna's peaceful calm never grates or becomes unbelievable and how Charles is like the perfect man come to life, complete with flaws that make him all the more easy to love.

Instead, I've spent paragraphs waxing on about my love for Patricia Briggs and how reading her books has smoothly hip checked my next favorite authors (it used to be tie between Piers Anthony and Jean Auel) firmly into the second slot. However, I believe I still made my point. If I'd just reviewed Dead Heat, you might have walked away wanting to read the Alpha & Omega series. My hope is that you won't stop there. Pick up every book she's ever read, read them from start to finish, and then join me in the torturous wait for Briggs' next book. ...more

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