The strongest emotion I feel after reading this book is disgruntlement (if that's a word at all). Allie Beckstrom's tale started out well enough. We're told she's a hound and can trace magic and magic signatures; she hates her rich dad and avoids him; the rules for the world are being laid down, Allie meets a few interesting people and then her dad is killed. Of course she has to find the whodunit. And that is when everything goes to hell in a handbasket, my friends. 
 Allie is unequivocally, unforgivably, and unbelievably stupid. When your dad denies that the signature you traced back to him is his, even though signatures are like DNA; when a truth spell shows he's not lying; when you are told that the signature of the magic that killed your dad is yours even though you didn't kill him, won't you start putting two and two together and realize that your dad was telling the truth and that there is something afoot? And if not then, surely after you meet a guy who tells you in so many words that he impersonated your magic signature, wouldn't you figure it out? When you're wanted by the police and ruthless people in very high places of power and influence for the murder of your dad, people who appear to be involved in this whole web of lies and death, is your first and only thought to go to the police and tell them, "but, but, but I'm innocent!"? Exactly. 
 To be sure, we're all allowed our moments of obtuseness, however when your very life depends on it, you can't afford to be dense. Dense, obtuse people who are fighting for their lives end up dead. Heck, even some of the smart ones don't escape. 
 So yes, I am not at all impressed with my first book by Ms. Monk. Idiot character and a world that doesn't bring much to the genre. Rachel Vincent's Unbound series is a much more unique take on the idea of Hounds and magical consequences, if you're looking for a good time, because this one certainly doesn't deliver one. 
 I might read the next book in series, though. You know, second chances and all that jazz.