Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

First in the Hollows series that follows the witch Rachel Morgan through her investigations and adventures. Had this one as an ebook but then discovered it as an Audiobook at my library and jumped on it. I am so happy I did since the book was the beginning of a wonderful series.

The book takes place in an alternate universe where many humans were annihilated after a man made virus ran across the world. The virus was introduced to the population via tomatoes and since then the vegetable has been banned right along with all medical research that might lead to another biological engineering accident.

Civilization is saved because of all the witches, vampires and fey that lived undetected among the human. This side of the population now live out in the open but are policed by several governmental agencies (Federal Inderland Security and it’s sister branch the IS).

Rachel Morgan worked for one of them, the Inderland Security agency – IS for short, but decided that her career was in the toilet and she needed to quit. Quitting is not so easy and although she was let go without fuss (she was a bit deficient in her duties), when her departure causes the best runner the agency has to leave with her (that would be Ivy, a half vampire that is a top notch agent), Rachel’s boss becomes very upset and decides that she will pay dearly for the loss. Jenks a fertile pixy decides to complete the mismatch crew.

Rachel thinks that if she brings in a huge catch her old boss will call off the assassins, so she sets her eyes on Trent Kalamack, a city councilor and successful businessman, who has been under surveillance for running brimstone (an edgy drug) but during her investigation she discovers that the handsome drug lord has his hands in a whole different type of cookie jar and she is determined to bring him in and save her hide.

There was not a lick of romance / sex / pairing in this book. I still loved this! Loved the world building, loved the unique characters, loved the mystery behind everyone’s motives. In the end there is so much more to learn and yet you don’t feel like you were left with any unanswered questions.

For those that need to know how to start a series, this is a great example. Make every single character interesting and with their own story to tell. Rachel was quirky but not stupid, Ivy was spooky but not a zombie, and Jenks was just plain adorable!!! I’m looking forward to reading the other 5 books in the series.

Grade: A
Format: Audiobook