Review: Funny Urban Fantasy Series
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 13, 2011
Psycops is one of my favorite urban fantasies and Secrets is my favorite in the series thus far. Jordan Castillo Price has created a fun world, with interesting mysteries and with funny (yes, here is that word again) and sexy characters. Despite being urban fantasy, the characters and the setting are written in very a realistic manner and despite having a romance storyline throughout the books and the series, the romance does not overwhelm the storyline.The setting is Chicago and unlike another of my favorite urban fantasy authors that sets his books in Chicago, Jordan Castillo Price gets Chicago right. Throughout the Psycops series there are 4 key characters. Vic is the main character who is police officer. He is extremely insecure, socially awkward, completely jealous of his boyfriend's former lover yet still very endearing. Vic has an absent partner, Lisa - a very funny and loving person. Then we have Jacob, Vic's serious boyfriend and Jacob's partner Carolyn. Now comes the urban fantasy part of the series - Vic, Lisa and Carolyn each possess different psychic skills and as a result, are employed by police departments to assist in solving crimes. Jacob is not psychically talented but he is very much interested in people who are. Much of the series centers on Vic dealing with his "talent", which is seeing and communicating with ghosts, using his talent to solve a crime and the interplay of Vic's relationship with Jacob.The strength of the series to me is the incredibly complex characters Ms. Price writes, along with witty humor. When I am reading any one book in this series I am literally laughing out loud and marking excerpt after excerpt. I highly recommend this series to anyone who loves urban fantasy, mysteries or just self-effacing humor. Below are some excerpts from Secrets I particularly liked:(Vic commenting on the new home that he and his boyfriend moved in to and of which he spent the recent few days attempting to organize - unsuccessfully): "When I got home from work, the cannery looked like an actual dwelling instead of a warehouse that'd been organized by a nearsighted drunk.""A flicker of actual interest registered in the receptionist's eyes.  `Third floor, Detective.'  And if she noticed that Lisa was dressed in a mishmash of men's sweats, she didn't so much as blink over it.""the longer I sat there, the closer I was to trying another sip of that decaf coffee.  I stood up and wondered if I was supposed to walk around and pull Lisa's chair out for her, but she was on her feet and bussing her own tray before I even had my own chair pushed in.""I looked at Jacob.  He was watching me.  Still smiling.  I did my best to telepathically scream, `What the hell?' I don't think he received it.""How could he do this to us? To me.  To either of us.  We were all in on it, all four of us.  Lisa might survive women's prison if she joined a Mexican gang.  Carolyn wou8ld probably be a smear on the wall within the first week.  I could squeak by if I was still good at being invisible.  But Jacob would be a big trophy kill, shanked by some tough guy looking to prove himself, probably beaten and tortured first.  Jesus Christ.""We walked more slowly carrying our steaming hot cups of coffee with their helpful warnings printed on the side."Warning:  The book contains explicit m/m sexual scenes.