Early Review: Precinct 13 by Tate Hallaway

Precinct 13 by Tate Hallaway 

Recent college grad Alex Conner is thrilled to have landed a job as the Hughes County coroner/medical examiner in Pierre, South Dakota. But when her first day on the job ends with a missing corpse, Alex starts to wonder if she would have been better off collecting unemployment...

When the cops made some cryptic comments about being careful with the body they brought in, Alex just thought the boys in blue were messing with her. That is, until something freaky happens that no amount of med school could have prepared her for. By the time Alex gets herself together, the body has disappeared and the other residents of the morgue start talking her ear off.

After working up the courage to report the missing body, Alex is transferred to the mysterious Precinct 13 where she discovers that her new co-workers—including a cute technomage named Jack—are paranormals just like her. Now, Alex is being encouraged to use her ability to speak to the dead to solve crimes. And despite being in the middle of nowhere, Hughes County sure does have a lot of paranormal activity…

 
Through a funny set of circumstances, Alex Conner finds herself in a new job as the Hughes County Coroner. Considering there hasn't been any murders in the area for over two years, Alex thinks she's in for an easy paycheck. But those ideals quickly go out the window when a corpse comes in with a cryptic warning about magic. With Alex's troubled past involving magic and the psychiatric ward, she thinks she's become the brunt of a nasty joke, at least that is until some very strange things happen ending with the corpse getting up and walking away. Her chief sends her straight to Precinct 13 where she learns that magic and paranormals exist after all, and she may just be one of them.

I was really impressed with Tate Hallaway's world building in Precinct 13. There was a plethora of supernatural characters that should have been overwhelming, but weren't due to the way things were handled. Each new element was introduced to Alex, and due to her acceptance were easily taken in stride as it they were directly tied into whatever she was currently facing. There wasn't a single info-dump, which was rather impressive considering the very large amount of things that needed to be covered in such a short amount of time. In fact the entire story was paced very well with no dull or slow moments keeping me sucked in the entire time.

I really loved the characters in this book, Alex most of all. She is incredibly tough and doesn't take nonsense from anyone. Most people would have collapsed long ago under the extreme stress of being told she was literally crazy for seeing and believing in magic. All the years of therapy and anti psychotics definitely took a toll, but she came out the other side much stronger. In fact when she learns that magic is real, she only protests for a short while before accepting it and getting down to business with her case. This is where she really shines as her drive and determination make for the perfect investigator. As far as the rest of the characters go, each one stood out, being well developed and fully realized. The many different personalities at the Precinct made for a very interesting rag tag team, that only furthered my enjoyment of the book as I watched the dynamics between them play out. However, aside from Alex, one character really stood out. There was just something so mysterious and rather yummy about Valentine, that I loved him from the moment he arrived, and the reveals centering around him only made me love him even more. Take my word for it, he is awesome!

I really enjoyed Precinct 13 and felt it was a great opener to this new series. Everything from the characters to the incredible world felt fresh and unique making Precinct 13 a stand out in the Urban Fantasy genre. This is one new series you won't want to miss!

(Received a copy from the publisher)

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