I love the main characters - Mercy, Adam, Samuel, Stefan, Zee - all the players are well developed. Mercy is such a strong, intelligent woman (coyote) and loyal friend. I love how real she comes across - a mechanic, living in a trailer; athletic - not too pretty as she describes herself, but charismatic in her own way, and strong willed. Her associations with werewolves, vampires, and fae get her into some scary situations. 
 This particular installment gets Mercy into a particularly dangerous predicament and as a result, she needs some serious attention once she is rescued. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, but the ending of this book is amazing. Briggs takes a very touchy subject and dances around it without graphic detail, but with enough gut-wrenching dread for the reader to appreciate the gravity of the situation. Mercy's reaction after breaks your heart. She withdraws in her coyote form for days. Again, how this is described is well done. 
 When I first began to read these, I read that Briggs was compared to Larell K Hamilton and I suppose I can see that, BUT preface that with the early days of LKH. Briggs does not spend an exorbitant amount of time on the sexual details - leaving that up to the reader is better in many ways. 
 I am thoroughly enjoying this series. Briggs writes excellent mysteries and chilling, scary villains. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.