Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs

ISBN: 9780441018369
I purchased this book.

Mercy Thompson book 3

This review contains spoilers for earlier books in the series.

Last time, Mercy was kidnapped, magically drugged and brutally raped. Bone Crossed picks up only a week later with Mercy still struggling to deal with her trauma, her newly exposed feelings for pack alpha Adam and now with area vampire queen Marsilia, who knows Mercy killed one of her own, decidedly pissed off at her. Though Mercy knows little of her own kind, being the only skinwalker (natural coyote shifter rather than an attack survivor like most other weres) currently known of, Marsilia knows what the walkers are, having been part of the Frontier-Era war between walker natives and European vampires.
Apparently nothing can kill vampires like a walker, so decades ago the vampires eradicated them. Once willing to let Mercy live as long as she wasn’t killing vampires and she remained useful, Marsillia now has declared war on Mercy, because Mercy was the one who fouled up Marsilia’s plans to make more demon-possessed vampires. But Mercy’s new position in the pack as Adam’s mate complicates things, so instead of attacking Mercy directly Marsilia goes after her friends and allies.
When Stefan, Mercy’s friend and Marsilia’s vampire, shows up, near dead and nearly mad with hunger Mercy is sure Marsilia sent him to kill her. Struggling to fight panic attacks and trying to form a healthy relationship with people around her Mercy also finds herself having to face down people who not only want to victimize her again, but who are willing to use her’s friend to re-victimize her.
Bone Crossed is full of emotional realism, even if it’s also full of vampires, fairies, ghosts and shape shifters. Characters who were already real before now deepen from fleshy and familiar to true friends of readers traveling with them.
The emotional turmoil is also balanced with action, manipulation and a complicated enough plot to prevent the book from coming off as sheer emotional angst over past events. Mercy is the definition of the plucky survivor, tough, but not immortal, snarky and defiant, but not suffering from Mary Sue Syndrome.
Bone Crossed is a good read, definitely not the place in the series to start, but a satisfying addition to the series. This series continues to deliver, creating a more complex world, but not one muddled by world rules violations, or mid stream changes in style or personality. Bone Crossed will both sate readers and keep them looking for more.