Review: Well Worth the Wait
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 24, 2013
If you thought Hidden Trump was a wild ride, you'll love Wild Card.  Although the story is nominally a murder mystery, with all the requisite plot twists and red herrings, there's a lot going on at different levels at the same time, with implications you sometimes see and some you won't pick up on until much later.  This time, Amber is neck-deep in werewolf politics as she searches for a rogue wolf serial killer who, she discovers, wants to kill her at the same time her unwillingness (inability?) to become part of the Denver werewolf pack and suppress her Athenate side brings her into conflict with the pack leader.  She's also still dealing with the Athenate fallout from the prior book, is seeing glimmers that she might be an Adept and has a different unit of her erstwhile military battalion trying to capture her, presumably to experiment on to figure out how to make more super-soldiers.  Oh, the FBI is split on whether she's a valuable resource or a danger that should be tossed into a cell and forgotten.  And don't get me started on her sister.Amber is still coming to grips with her new Athenate abilities and responsibilities as a House and, as in the prior stories, stirs things up as she struggles to find a balance between her vampire and werewolf aspects.  The Athenate political maneuvering takes a back seat to the werewolf conflict, but it forms a balancing undercurrent throughout the story and drives a lot of her actions, which in turn have repercussions in the Athenate and Werewolf worlds.  She is also trying to come to grips with the changes becoming Athenate has made in her romantic life.  Alex and Jen are fleshed out more as well, something I was personally pleased to see, and Amber is more comfortable in her role as House Farrell and in her relationships.  Other characters are introduced or expanded, but this remains very much Amber's story.We get to see a bit more into Amber's past as the pursuit of the rogue brings back some very scary memories.  These, along with descriptions of some of the murder scenes, are a bit strong, (not Anita Blake territory, but still,) so be prepared to slide forward if this sort of thing bothers you.Mr. Henwick does a great job of weaving a complex plot and a lot of interesting characters into a wonderful story, the best in the series so far.  I found having the story told almost exclusively from Amber's viewpoint much more compelling (and much more difficult) than the usual multi-narrator story for something this complex.Buy this one early in the morning, folks.  You're not going to be putting it down until you're done.