BLACK MARK

An urban fantasy debut sees an ex-barmaid with magical connections team up with a private investigator to rescue a kidnapped friend.

Alex Whittaker is in her late 20s and until recently worked as a bartender at After Dark. The club caters to Seattle’s diverse clientele of Otherkin—supernatural creatures who were outed after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and who now have been accepted into human society. For the last three years, Alex has been searching for her missing sister. The only clue to her disappearance is a shard of red glass the likes of which 30-something Finnegan Black, a private detective and former police officer, once obsessed over when his fiancee was abducted. Finn now believes his fiancee is dead. He has turned to drink and lost his business. But when Alex takes over that business, she gives Finn new hope. While the two form a reluctant partnership, their investigation into the red glass is put on hold when one of Alex’s ex-colleagues from After Dark is taken and held hostage by a ruthless Daemon clan. In seeking to rescue him, Alex and Finn find themselves in possession of a dangerous magical artifact and caught between the Daemonkin and a powerful necromancer. In this series opener, Hazen writes in the third person from both Alex’s and Finn’s viewpoints, employing a straightforward narrative style and dialogue suitable to the genre. The story moves quickly, pulling readers through escalating loops of action, crisis, and discovery. The author avoids stand-alone exposition, instead allowing the worldbuilding to take place naturally within the plot progression. So, too, are the characters revealed through their behaviors. To an extent, both Alex and Finn are stock protagonists. Alex is a spirited blond who punches above her weight through dint of determination, resourcefulness, and sheer personality; Finn is a down-and-out type, all broody and prickly until his hidden depths are revealed. The two work well together and help inure readers to the assortment of supernatural creatures inhabiting Seattle. At times, the two sleuths could do with more breathing room—a narrative pause in which to appreciate the magnitude of their situation or the closeness of a close call—but this is a minor quibble. For the most part, Alex and Finn prove themselves well worth following.

A diverting mix of hard-boiled noir and rambunctious escapism.