Kat Richardson has begun a book tour for the release of Underground – the third book in the Greywalker series. Blog posts about the tour is what brought her and the series to my attention. I thought Underground sounded interesting so I decided to read Greywalker and Poltergeist first so I wouldn’t be behind. As it turns out, there wasn’t much of a worry there.
Though many of the same characters appear in each book, it’s not necessary to read them all, though it’s certainly fun. Richardson gives enough information about characters that pop up without making it feel like she’s doing an information dump; several sentences sprinkled throughout Poltergeist does the job in keeping the reader in the loop.Â
The series is about Harper Blaine, a private investigator in Seattle, Washington. While working on a case, she gets into a bit of a scuffle which has some interesting results. First, she dies for two minutes. Second, she’s revived and has the ability to see things that most people can’t. Third, with this new ability some of the truly stranger denizens of Seattle are drawn to her which makes for some interesting new cases. The Grey is the place in between the physical world and the spiritual world. Ghosts, monsters, and psychic energy forces reside there.Â
In Greywalker, Blaine learns how to see the Grey better and walk in it while trying to minimize the physical risk to herself. She’s a normal private investigator who has suddenly found herself working with and for the paranormal. It’s not something she asked for and it’s not something she embraces more than she feels is necessary. The characters are complete even if Richardson doesn’t give away all of their secrets. This book sets up the series and features vampires. I found the world building information about the Grey and the various users of magic interesting.
In Poltergeist, we find out Blaine is still resistant to learning and practicing her powers. For example, she’ll look at a person’s aura to get more information about them but she’s not sure what the colors actually mean. As the only known Greywalker there isn’t a Greywalking for Dummies book to consult. A professor at the local university has put together an experiment to see if a poltergeist can be created. The results have recently gotten stronger and the professor thinks someone in the group is trying to manipulate the results. He hires Blaine to investigate. Before long one of the experiment participants ends up dead. Was it the poltergeist or someone else who committed the murder? Blaine tries to complete her case without getting caught in the middle of the police investigation of the murder. The same cast of secondary characters appears in this book and a few new ones are introduced.
When I get my TBR pile a little more under control, I’ll be purchasing Underground.