Darkfever
Fever, Book #1
By Karen Marie Moning

Review brought to you by OBS staff member Heidi

This is the first book in Karen Marie Moning’s popular Fever series.  In this installment we meet Makayla Lane aka Mac who is just an average girl enjoying her youth living at her parents’ house in Ashford, Georgia and working at a local bar.  Life is great until she gets a call that her older sister, who’s studying abroad in Dublin has been brutally murdered.  Mac then gets a message on her cell phone from her sister that was left hours before her murder telling her that they must find the Sinsar Dubh and tells Mac that she doesn’t even know what she is.

Mac’s world is turned upside down and to make matters worse the Dublin police have given up on finding Alina’s killer after only three weeks.  Mac decides that the only way to get justice for her sister is to go to Dublin and force the police to reopen the investigation.

Once there, Mac realizes just how out of her element she is in Dublin.  She starts seeing strange things people that one minute look normal and the next look like hideous monsters.  And when she talks to her sister’s teachers and classmates they all paint a picture of a girl that sounds nothing like Alina blowing off classes and acting jumpy.

Then Mac meets Jericho Barrons, who clues her in to what she really is, a side-seer, or one that can see the fae and not just the glamour they project.  He also knows what the Sinsar Dubh is since he would do anything to get his hands on it.  It’s an ancient book supposedly written by the unseelie (dark) king.  He also discovers that Mac can sense the book and all of the fae hollows and quickly starts putting her to use.

Mac is torn on what to do and who to believe.  How will she find Alina’s killer and is Jericho someone that can be trusted or is he the one that murdered her one and only sister?

This is the first book I ever read about the fae and I found it to be a lot of fun.  The storyline is interesting and one that pulls at the heartstrings; a sister just wanting justice for her murdered sister.  Parents that don’t want Mac to go to Dublin for fear of losing another daughter to that horrible city.

Then, of course there is the issue of whom should Mac trust.  She obviously needs help in solving the mystery, but can anybody be trusted?  I personally found myself wanting to trust and like Jericho, but you have to put yourself in her shoes and try to decide if trusting this complete stranger is wise.

And any story that has a death-by-sex fae in it, is one that makes me take notice.  You don’t get a lot of V’lane in this story, but you can tell that he is going to play a huge part in the series as it progresses.

This book isn’t mind-blowing, but it quickly grabs you and by the end your addicted and can’t wait to get your hands on the next installment to see just what happens to Mac and to find out who killed her sister and why.  But I must give you all a fair warning.  Karen Marie Moning loves the cliffhanger.  This one isn’t too bad, but I have read the entire series and the later books do have some major cliffhangers.  Luckily they have all been released now (although I have heard rumors that she has changed her mind and plans to return to the Fever series when her spin-off series is complete)  so you won’t have to wait for her to finish them.