Book 67, 2021

[chez_jae]

Moonshine by Rob Thurman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



After reading Nightlife by Rob Thurman and becoming wholly obsessed with it, I went to Amazon and snapped up the other nine books in the "Cal Leandros" series. All at once. I had to have them. Once I received the second book in the series I was like Gollum from LotR: "My precious!" I then dived face-first into Moonshine and knocked it back in two nights. And believe me, the thought flitted through my mind to call in sick the following day just so I could read it cover to cover as soon as my precious was in my hot little hands. I refrained. Barely.

Moonshine picks up a few months after Nightlife. Having defeated the Auphe, Cal and his ninja-like brother, Niko, have gone into business for themselves as bodyguards/detectives/jacks of all trades for the supernatural element in New York. The vampire, Promise, has signed on as a financial backer and third partner, while Robin, the puck, has maintained a friendship with the brothers. A lucrative assignment lands in their laps when a werewolf crime lord wants proof that a rival is trying to undercut him so that he's justified in taking his rival out. What should have been a simple job for a lot of money becomes extremely complicated when Cal and Niko learn they've been set up. They are caught up in the midst of double-and-triple crosses, and at the heart of it is an arcane object that someone covets very badly...enough to abduct Georgina, the young psychic who owns more of Cal's heart than he wants to allow. Cal will stop at nothing to save George, even if he must embrace his dark side to do so.

Wowzers, this book didn't let up. Since Niko is fully human, he was unable to move in the same circles that Cal could; thus, we got to see Cal shouldering more of the load. We also got to see much more of Promise (although I am sticking to my guns with the assertion that Robin is a better match for Niko, hah!), and we were introduced to new creatures. The author had a different take on werewolves, which was at turns refreshing, interesting, and repulsive. Fight scenes were violent and gory, and the tension throughout the book kept me on tenterhooks. It was a struggle not to cheat by flipping to the back! Characterizations were incredibly well-done, even extending to the minor ones (I was especially in awe of the complexity of Flay's character), and the author's world-building is top-notch. What really makes these books shine for me, however, is the relationship between Cal and Niko. Not only would they kill for one another, but each of them would die for the other, no questions asked. Cal's narrative voice is snarky and sarcastic, and provided some humor in what was otherwise a hell on wheels type of story. Love it!

Favorite lines:
* Poor bastard, he'd missed his ride to the Island of Misfit Toys.
* "Honk. Honk," Niko said with the utmost gravity. Picture it if you will. One of the most lethal fighters in the tristate area, a man who in the game of kill-or-be-killed was solidly king of the former category, and he was honking. Honking. Jesus.
* I could slay monsters with the best of them, but cooking usually managed to turn the tables on me in culinary smackdowns that left the kitchen unusable for days.
* Imminent death and destruction were no excuse for a wasted mind, he would say. Really, he would actually say that.

* I did the dishes, put up clothes, even scrubbed the tub...things I rarely if ever got off my lazy ass to do. By the time Niko came home, I was so desperate for a distraction that I said something that literally stopped him in his tracks. // "Hey," I said the moment he opened the door. "Good day? Learn a lot? Wanna spar?" // He stood in the doorway with keys dangling from his hand to regard me with bemusement. "Wrong apartment or pod person. I'm not quite sure where to place my bet."
* "You did that on purpose, you son of a bitch."
* I doubted seriously that Auphe had souls, and what did that mean for me? Half soul? No soul? Only James Brown knew for sure.
* "Goodfellow isn't going to come cheap." I waggled my eyebrows. "Although you could maybe bargain him down. You know, with your studly body."
See? Even Cal ships Robin/Niko!
* "I'm in pain, mortally wounded. Distract me from my grief that I shall never know the size of Niko's most infamous sword."
* With arms folded and eyelids drooping, I did my best to look sleepy and harmless. Niko would have said that was essentially my natural state.
* Speed was a relative term, but I like to think I set a land-speed record for an injured man in gigolo wear.
* I wasn't too worried, though. They might be behind me, but Niko was behind them. And that wasn't a fair fight in anybody's book.
* Mission accomplished, if you call fucked-up and blown out of the water an accomplishment.
* "I know you two bonded while I was off trying to destroy the world, but exactly how did you go about it?"
Therein lies the fanfic, my friends!
* They stared at me as though I'd fallen from the sky to rape their women, turn their children into beer cozies, and try to sell them life insurance.
* "If you don't have a weapon hidden in every room, then your decoration skills are sorely lacking."
* The gray eyes narrowed with haughty question. "Did you see me by the warehouse?" // "No," I admitted ruefully. "Big surprise." // "Then how do you know I was there?" // "The same way I know Goodfellow's staring at your ass. It's a law of nature. Can't be changed." // Nik glanced over his shoulder, eyes narrowing further. Not bothering to look innocent, Robin shrugged and gave an unrepentant and utterly wicked grin.
* "How's your arm?" // "Fine," I murmured, voice and thoughts equally thick. "What arm?" // "That's what I thought."
* "It's more entertaining by far to tell you the truth. Watching you ignore it and fall ass over heels into the worst kind of trouble...it's better than cable."
* As a rule, Niko took most things in stride. As far as I could tell, Niko had been born unflappable.
* "Fuck," came the viciously spit curse. That sounded like me, not my calm, cool, collected brother. At any other time I would've been amazed and amused that Niko would admit to knowing the word, much less using it.
* "You worry about me too much, Nik." My hand made an automatic grab for a braid that was no longer there. I missed Niko's hair, if only for the annoyance it gave him when I tugged on it.
I miss Niko's long hair, too! *cries*
* It also happened to be the trigger to Niko's losing it. Of course, a loss of composure and temper came off a lot better on my brother than it would have on me.
* Niko had turned off his phone before we'd gone underground. Having 'Kung Fu Fighting' ring in funky cheer while we were approaching Abbagor wasn't the best of game plans.
This is comedy gold on so many levels. First, assuming that really is Niko's ring-tone, if Niko set it, that would be amazing. He has a sense of humor, but it's dry and subtle. Putting that as his ring-tone would have been hilariously out of character for him. Which leads to the second point--it's far more likely that Cal would have made that Niko's ring-tone, which is epic. Third, if Cal was indeed the culprit, it's amusing that Niko would have left it, yet that would have been very much in character for him. It pleases him that Cal can wring some amusement out of anything.
* I didn't bother to identify myself. Goodfellow knew my voice. As he'd once said, it was a unique combination of peat whiskey and sullen snarkiness. The whiskey was courtesy of my ever lovin' mother. The snarkiness, to give credit where credit is due, was all my own.
* Snatched from the jaws of death cut you exactly five seconds of slack around here.
* Moving over to me, he gave my wet ponytail a tug. The yank was hard enough to let him know I was real...alive, but not enough to hurt. Much.
* "I've laid out the ice packs, the muscle ointment, the whole nine yards. Promise said she'd like to help, but if you'd rather get half-naked in front of someone else"--my lips quirked--"that's your prerogative." The eyes narrowed further, but he disappeared silently into the back. He knew as well as I did that Robin might have a limp, but he was still a predator, through and through. And if the Puck had a weakness, it was for half-naked anything.
* "You were shit-faced then, Loman. I'm surprised you remember anything I said. Besides you were too busy sniffing Nik's hair."
* Sitting on the couch, I took in the blanket and pillow piled with hospital neatness at one end. The cushions had been scrubbed with ruthless efficiency and smelled of nothing but soap and water. Nik. He couldn't fix George, couldn't fix me, so he concentrated on the little things. Until he could get his hands on Caleb, he'd impose order on the chaos available to him.
* "Hell." He stared at me, lines bracketing his mouth. "You've...hell." // I completed the thought for him. "Gone off the deep end?" The corner of my mouth quirked up. "Wasn't a long trip for me, was it?"
* "I, an immortal creature, am only standing here with a vampire, a half Auphe, and a walking talking wolf. Why would I possibly believe in something as ludicrous as a Gypsy curse?"
* "We need better memories, little brother, if you're making this one out to be anything less than absolutely shitty."
* "Let's focus on one life-threatening disaster at a time. Multitasking at this level of catastrophe isn't quite feasible."

In summation, a gut-wrenching, heart-tugging read, and I need to refrain from grabbing the next one in the series. Five stars!


Banner found on Pinterest; will credit artist if I find out who it is

Comments

[chez_jae]

\o/

My understanding is, the 10th (and presumably last) book in the series ended with some resolution lacking. It's also my understanding that the author did write another book but lost her publisher(?). There was also some scuttlebutt that she'd suffered illness and/or injury at some point, which may have impacted things. It pains me to think that I'll read all these and then be left wondering. But, again, therein lies the fanfic.

:)