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kmkilby's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
kathydavie's review
4.0
Fourth in the Alpha & Omega urban fantasy spin-off series (and eleventh in the Mercyverse) and revolving around Charles and Anna and Charles' father, the Marrok. Wolfshifters all and based in Montana. The couple focus is on Charles and Anna as he fulfills his own wish for Anna with a trip to Arizona. If you're interested, there is a chronological listing of the Alpha & Omega books on my website.
It's been a few months since Fair Game, 3.
My Take
I suspect Briggs is building the base for the next set of dramas for the Alpha & Omega and Mercy Thompson series. The fae lord mentioned in the prologue — I suspect his, um, actions are merely a precursor for what is to come — and that's terrifying. More terrifying is realizing what the favorite prey is of the fae.Then the attack on Chelsea and all the spillage of past cases involving children. And wondering what this escalation from the fae is about after Bran has spent months hammering out a treaty with the Gray Lords. I do wonder if the Gray Lords know about this Doll Collector unleashed on the human world.(I'd sure love to know why he chose his current habitation if that "evil queen" is right about it being his choice.)
Getting into Dead Heat, Briggs builds that tension well as Chelsea's headache worsens. Briggs has quickly painted enough of Chelsea's character that the thoughts she's having don't seem like her at all, and it adds to that tension, the fear building.
Briggs is giving the wolves some allies. Agent Fisher is one they bonded with in Fair Game, and for once, the Cantrip agents aren't jerks!
It's actually a lovely story as we enjoy the bond that Charles and Anna share. The inner Charles that Anna helps us to understand — a very clever gambit by Briggs that reveals background information without being an info dump!
The Story
It's a delicate topic. Children. Female werewolves can't carry a baby to term if they shift at the full moon. Yet Anna wants to try. An attempt that Charles refuses for he lost his mother when he was born. Anna means too much to Charles for him to chance losing her.
It's another type of loss that pulls at Charles to head to Arizona where he encounters yet more losses.
And an insidious fae attack that leaves a family grieving.
The Characters
The nearly 200-year-old Charles Cornick is the younger son of the Marrok, his Enforcer, and the investment manager for the pack. Brother Wolf is his other side. Anna is his beloved mate, an omega wolf (see On the Prowl: "Alpha & Omega", Alpha & Omega, 0.5 & Mercy Thompson, 2.5). Anna's father is a lawyer. Jinx is her current horse, the one Charles thinks needs to be upgraded.
Samuel is his child-obsessed brother and a medical doctor. Ariana, a fae, is the mate he lost so long ago (Shifting Shadows: "Silver") and found again. The Marrok is Bran Cornick, the ruler of all the werewolves in North America.
Arizona
The eighty-two-year-old Joseph Sani was once Charles' best friend in the world. And still the best horseman Charles has ever seen. Maggie is the woman Joseph married, and she is still in love with Charles. Ernestine and Libby are Maggie's great-nieces. Chelsea Sani is married to Joseph and Maggie's son, Hashké Gaajii Sani, a.k.a., Kage, and they have two children together: Michael and Mackie. Max is Chelsea's son from a previous marriage, and Kage treats him as his own. I do adore Max. He's so levelheaded! Kage works with the family's breeding farm while Chelsea is part-owner of a company that trains people. Ánáli Hastiin is Hosteen, the children's Navajo great-grandfather, Joseph's father, Alpha of the Salt River Pack, and a breeder of fine Arabian horses. He has some strong feelings about witches and hates Chelsea with a passion.
The horses
Hephzibah is a witch who only looks like a horse. Portabella and Merrylegs are some of the horses Anna tries. Morales is a stable hand, Mateo is a senior trainer, and Teri is an apprentice.
Wade Koch is Hosteen's second in the pack.
Sunshine Fun Day Care is…
…attended by Mackie and Michael. Miss Baird is Mackie's teacher. Ms. Newman is Michael's teacher this year, a very regimented teacher who has got the hots for Charles. Mrs. Glover had been Mackie's teacher until she killed herself. Farrah Edison is the principal. Amethyst Miller is one of Mackie's classmates. Sara and Brent Miller are in the middle of a nasty divorce. Sean McDermit is a janitor at the day care.
Special Agent Leslie Fisher is with the FBI Violent Crimes Unit and worked with Charles and Anna in Fair Game. Jude is her huge linebacker of a husband who now teaches elementary school. Hemmings.
Cantrip is…
…a mixed bag. Supposedly, it's a government agency to aid the supernatural. In truth, it's run by men bigoted against the supernatural. Agents Jim Marsden and Hollister Leeds, a geek boy and a changeling, show up at the day care.
Possible fae victims
Professor Alexander Vaughn teaches higher mathematics at Arizona State. He's one of the children who escaped some years ago. Officer Darin "Dare" Richards of the Phoenix PD is Alex's partner. Mary Lu Vaughn is Alex's mother, and she believed every word of Alex's story. Sid was Alex's father and his great-grandfather, Archie, was a werewolf who lived with the Vaughns as the family dog.
Judy White is a foster mother to Blair. A young girl Brother Wolf believes has a part to play. Helen's parents and counselor believe she is possessed. Iris is five and her father, Trent Carter, is overwhelmed. Kathryn Jamison is divorced again, and looking. She's also a sidhe-seer with a wearden, a tree-folk fae, living in her garden.
Senator Beauclaire was a Prince of the Gray Lords whose actions in Fair Game caused the fae to retreat to their reservations and cut themselves off from the rest of the world. The Doll Collector is the fae sent out into the human world to wreak havoc.
A fetch is a changeling that isn't a living thing. Ooh, seems that the rest of the world has caught onto the truth that those "jails" the fae were behind are actually their fortresses.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a soft surprise with the so-very young-looking Charles, his black tank-top-clad back up against the black bustier-clad Anna. Her red hair is pulled back to reveal the black collar around her neck, her long chandelier-style earrings dangling. Charles' wolf gleams from his eyes, his hair in multiple braids, a leather armband around his bicep. The background is hazy, a starry Texas night of cacti, mesas, and a howling wolf.
The title plays off the horses and racing, for it's a Dead Heat in this race to save the children.
It's been a few months since Fair Game, 3.
My Take
I suspect Briggs is building the base for the next set of dramas for the Alpha & Omega and Mercy Thompson series. The fae lord mentioned in the prologue — I suspect his, um, actions are merely a precursor for what is to come — and that's terrifying. More terrifying is realizing what the favorite prey is of the fae.Then the attack on Chelsea and all the spillage of past cases involving children. And wondering what this escalation from the fae is about after Bran has spent months hammering out a treaty with the Gray Lords. I do wonder if the Gray Lords know about this Doll Collector unleashed on the human world.(I'd sure love to know why he chose his current habitation if that "evil queen" is right about it being his choice.)
Getting into Dead Heat, Briggs builds that tension well as Chelsea's headache worsens. Briggs has quickly painted enough of Chelsea's character that the thoughts she's having don't seem like her at all, and it adds to that tension, the fear building.
"Good-bye tears your heart out and leaves it a feast for carrion birds who happen by."We learn Anna's strengths in this. It's a quiet learning for us as the dramas unfold. Maggie is a former lover, and she isn't shy about giving Anna a bad time out of her own jealousy. Anna also has to worry about Hosteen who hates Chelsea so much that Anna worries he'll do something to her. And, oh man, it is so much fun to read how frustrated Anna makes Hosteen feel, lol. Omegas are so rare, and Hosteen has no idea.
Briggs is giving the wolves some allies. Agent Fisher is one they bonded with in Fair Game, and for once, the Cantrip agents aren't jerks!
It's actually a lovely story as we enjoy the bond that Charles and Anna share. The inner Charles that Anna helps us to understand — a very clever gambit by Briggs that reveals background information without being an info dump!
"He was her warm safe place in the storm of the world, and she…she thought that she was his home."We learn from Charles as well as he muses on loss. The loss of friends and the passage of time for him versus those who are humans. If it's worth befriending humans when it only leads to grief. It's a meditation and a case that helps Charles and Anna come to know each other even better.
The Story
It's a delicate topic. Children. Female werewolves can't carry a baby to term if they shift at the full moon. Yet Anna wants to try. An attempt that Charles refuses for he lost his mother when he was born. Anna means too much to Charles for him to chance losing her.
It's another type of loss that pulls at Charles to head to Arizona where he encounters yet more losses.
And an insidious fae attack that leaves a family grieving.
The Characters
The nearly 200-year-old Charles Cornick is the younger son of the Marrok, his Enforcer, and the investment manager for the pack. Brother Wolf is his other side. Anna is his beloved mate, an omega wolf (see On the Prowl: "Alpha & Omega", Alpha & Omega, 0.5 & Mercy Thompson, 2.5). Anna's father is a lawyer. Jinx is her current horse, the one Charles thinks needs to be upgraded.
Samuel is his child-obsessed brother and a medical doctor. Ariana, a fae, is the mate he lost so long ago (Shifting Shadows: "Silver") and found again. The Marrok is Bran Cornick, the ruler of all the werewolves in North America.
Arizona
The eighty-two-year-old Joseph Sani was once Charles' best friend in the world. And still the best horseman Charles has ever seen. Maggie is the woman Joseph married, and she is still in love with Charles. Ernestine and Libby are Maggie's great-nieces. Chelsea Sani is married to Joseph and Maggie's son, Hashké Gaajii Sani, a.k.a., Kage, and they have two children together: Michael and Mackie. Max is Chelsea's son from a previous marriage, and Kage treats him as his own. I do adore Max. He's so levelheaded! Kage works with the family's breeding farm while Chelsea is part-owner of a company that trains people. Ánáli Hastiin is Hosteen, the children's Navajo great-grandfather, Joseph's father, Alpha of the Salt River Pack, and a breeder of fine Arabian horses. He has some strong feelings about witches and hates Chelsea with a passion.
The horses
Hephzibah is a witch who only looks like a horse. Portabella and Merrylegs are some of the horses Anna tries. Morales is a stable hand, Mateo is a senior trainer, and Teri is an apprentice.
Wade Koch is Hosteen's second in the pack.
Sunshine Fun Day Care is…
…attended by Mackie and Michael. Miss Baird is Mackie's teacher. Ms. Newman is Michael's teacher this year, a very regimented teacher who has got the hots for Charles. Mrs. Glover had been Mackie's teacher until she killed herself. Farrah Edison is the principal. Amethyst Miller is one of Mackie's classmates. Sara and Brent Miller are in the middle of a nasty divorce. Sean McDermit is a janitor at the day care.
Special Agent Leslie Fisher is with the FBI Violent Crimes Unit and worked with Charles and Anna in Fair Game. Jude is her huge linebacker of a husband who now teaches elementary school. Hemmings.
Cantrip is…
…a mixed bag. Supposedly, it's a government agency to aid the supernatural. In truth, it's run by men bigoted against the supernatural. Agents Jim Marsden and Hollister Leeds, a geek boy and a changeling, show up at the day care.
Possible fae victims
Professor Alexander Vaughn teaches higher mathematics at Arizona State. He's one of the children who escaped some years ago. Officer Darin "Dare" Richards of the Phoenix PD is Alex's partner. Mary Lu Vaughn is Alex's mother, and she believed every word of Alex's story. Sid was Alex's father and his great-grandfather, Archie, was a werewolf who lived with the Vaughns as the family dog.
Judy White is a foster mother to Blair. A young girl Brother Wolf believes has a part to play. Helen's parents and counselor believe she is possessed. Iris is five and her father, Trent Carter, is overwhelmed. Kathryn Jamison is divorced again, and looking. She's also a sidhe-seer with a wearden, a tree-folk fae, living in her garden.
Senator Beauclaire was a Prince of the Gray Lords whose actions in Fair Game caused the fae to retreat to their reservations and cut themselves off from the rest of the world. The Doll Collector is the fae sent out into the human world to wreak havoc.
A fetch is a changeling that isn't a living thing. Ooh, seems that the rest of the world has caught onto the truth that those "jails" the fae were behind are actually their fortresses.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a soft surprise with the so-very young-looking Charles, his black tank-top-clad back up against the black bustier-clad Anna. Her red hair is pulled back to reveal the black collar around her neck, her long chandelier-style earrings dangling. Charles' wolf gleams from his eyes, his hair in multiple braids, a leather armband around his bicep. The background is hazy, a starry Texas night of cacti, mesas, and a howling wolf.
The title plays off the horses and racing, for it's a Dead Heat in this race to save the children.
yodamom's review
4.0
Anna and Charles, bonded pair, deeply in love, set out to find the person involved in threatening the family of one of their pack members. They plan on making it a two birds type trip, they will find the source of danger an pick up a new horse for new rider Anna. The threat becomes more then expected, dangerous, deadly and full of hidden truths. During this already horrible time Charles must deal with the mortality of humans, his best friend. The Fae are not following the rules lives will be lost, children are in danger and Charles is a Protector.
Wow, this book lets us see into this great and deadly man/Were. His connection to the human aged man and his family are very interesting we get a good look at a time in his life never seen before. He has to make some hard choices they may haunt him forever. His connection to Anna was a beautiful thing to see. They are a great couple that can keep me reading even after the chase has been run and won.
I really enjoyed stepping into this world again. I wished we had seen more of Bran but it was hinted he will be in the next book. The ending was a cliffhanger that twists the story into a new direction. I can’t wait for more.
karenreader's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
⭐️ horrible, ⭐️ ⭐️mediocre, ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ entertaining, ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ great, ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ excellent
[***The following rambling notes are for me. They may contain spoilers or no information at all.***]
My least favorite book in the series. Changes so much of Charles backstory that has been laid out in other books: that he’s been alone without friends, that he’s never had romantic love, that he’s always been by his father’s side as his enforcer. I don’t mind the actual plot, but really dislike the way everything about Charles life is changed.
laura_corsi's review
3.0
I love this series by Patricia Briggs but unfortunately things are starting to get a little stale for me. It feels like the characters are who they are and there is no more growing left for them to do. I hope things get better in the next book.
moonny's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
erikajay's review
4.0
I hated the Maggie/Charles backstory.
One of the beautiful things about Anna and Charles was that he has been alone for so long and Anna was the only one he let in. But apparently he fell in love with Maggie several decades ago and at one point said he would’ve been happy with her. Later in the book though he admits that it wouldn’t have worked out between them and Anna is the right one for him.
I also found Maggie’s actions to be completely inappropriate. She is hostile towards Anna and is jealous and protective of Charles while her husband is literally dying in the next room. Charles even states that she’s been that way ever since Maggie and Joseph got married and it would cause problems when he visited over the years. What a terrible woman!
That being said, I loved the storyline! Anna and Charles at it again! I loved (to hate) the villain. We don’t find out until the end who it is, and Briggs keeps us guessing and on our toes the entire time!
I also love the conversation between Anna and Charles where she tells him that the ones who have been hurt know he is safe. It always makes me tear up!
Holter Graham does another excellent job with the audio!
One of the beautiful things about Anna and Charles was that he has been alone for so long and Anna was the only one he let in. But apparently he fell in love with Maggie several decades ago and at one point said he would’ve been happy with her. Later in the book though he admits that it wouldn’t have worked out between them and Anna is the right one for him.
I also found Maggie’s actions to be completely inappropriate. She is hostile towards Anna and is jealous and protective of Charles while her husband is literally dying in the next room. Charles even states that she’s been that way ever since Maggie and Joseph got married and it would cause problems when he visited over the years. What a terrible woman!
That being said, I loved the storyline! Anna and Charles at it again! I loved (to hate) the villain. We don’t find out until the end who it is, and Briggs keeps us guessing and on our toes the entire time!
I also love the conversation between Anna and Charles where she tells him that the ones who have been hurt know he is safe. It always makes me tear up!
Holter Graham does another excellent job with the audio!
kristen1994's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
gillianw's review
3.0
I gotta say, I enjoyed this one more than I thought I would. Not that I'm not a fan of Patricia Briggs because I am and I love the Mercy Thompson series dearly. But Charles and Anna are kinda just meh to me. In any case, I finally decided to take the plunge and, low and behold, Dead Heat turned out to be a pleasant surprise! I liked the story, the setting and the slightly more gentle side of Charles, the pack enforcer. If I could give out half stars, this book would rate a solid 3.5. Now, if we can only convince Ms. Briggs to write a whole novel about Bran, I'd be a happy camper!