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A review by donnek
At First Light by Barbara Nickless
4.5
As a huge fan of Barbara Nickless’s Sydney Parnell series, I was feeling bummed about the conclusion of the series So, I decided to check out her new series on Evan Wilding, a character that was introduced in the final installment of the Sydney Parnell series. As the book summary indicates, Evan is a forensic semiotician, who is someone that studies symbolic signs and patterns at crime scenes, that may provide clues, as a form of communication from a perpetrator or suspect. Evan is also a little person, or as he likes to be considered, someone who is afflicted with dwarfism. This makes a lot of people uncomfortable when they first meet him, except Det Addie Bissett. Addie is probably in love with Evan although she doesn’t think so, which is kind of sad. Evan is definitely secretly in love with Addie, but will never go public with that for fear of losing her friendship. Evan values Addie’s friendship much more than his own romantic desires and wishes.
The story flips back and forth between Evan, Addie, and the killer. There is also a secondary story of the new Chief of Chicago PD, who is a misogynist, who overtly discriminates and dismisses Addie and her position and experience and who especially doesn’t like Evan, regardless of his experience and expertise. Most of the story revolves around the investigation of the deaths that appear to be the work of some ritualistic killer influenced by Odin, the Nordic God, that the press has nicknamed the Viking Poet. None of this is a spoiler since it is basically the beginning of the story.
By the halfway point, another storyline has developed, but I’m not going to spoil that. Even so, it’s not like it is revealing any new clues as to who the killer is. Well into the second half, I’m still not sure who the killer may be, but have kind of narrowed it down to two suspects, maybe three. Idk!!! As I suspected I would be, the revelation of the killer was absolutely shocking and not anyone that I had considered. I LOVE when that happens, but then I am already well aware of what a extraordinary writer and storyteller Nickless is. I look forward to continuing this new series of hers.
The story flips back and forth between Evan, Addie, and the killer. There is also a secondary story of the new Chief of Chicago PD, who is a misogynist, who overtly discriminates and dismisses Addie and her position and experience and who especially doesn’t like Evan, regardless of his experience and expertise. Most of the story revolves around the investigation of the deaths that appear to be the work of some ritualistic killer influenced by Odin, the Nordic God, that the press has nicknamed the Viking Poet. None of this is a spoiler since it is basically the beginning of the story.
By the halfway point, another storyline has developed, but I’m not going to spoil that. Even so, it’s not like it is revealing any new clues as to who the killer is. Well into the second half, I’m still not sure who the killer may be, but have kind of narrowed it down to two suspects, maybe three. Idk!!! As I suspected I would be, the revelation of the killer was absolutely shocking and not anyone that I had considered. I LOVE when that happens, but then I am already well aware of what a extraordinary writer and storyteller Nickless is. I look forward to continuing this new series of hers.