Gwen’s review of Mortal Sins (World of the Lupi, Book 5) by Eileen Wilks
Urban fantasy suspense released by Berkley 3 Feb 09

There are some authors who can just write, baby, write.  They can craft words into something that is more than simple prose.  They make words sing and dance, and tell you a story so compelling that they’re practically reaching thru the page and grabbing you by the throat.  Wilks is like that for me.  Her writing is just plain awesome. 

I don’t say this about many books, but this book was thoroughly entertaining.  I adore Wilks’s writing.  Her ability to “paint” a scene is unique and nearly second to none.  You get the color, taste, emotion, smell, action, feeling, feeling, and feeling of a scene.  I find myself totally immersed in her world, completely forgetting that I’m reading a book.  THAT is my idea of escapist entertainment.

Wilks’s characters in her Lupi world are all so consistently portrayed, that I feel like I’m visiting friends and family.  Her primary and secondary characters are interesting and fully portrayed – no cardboard cutouts.  I sincerely care about the people in this complex world.  In fact, I read practically the entire book in one sitting – much to the consternation of my nine-year old daughter.  I have not grown weary of this hero and heroine one bit.

It’s difficult to say if this book stands alone or if you need to read the others.  I say read the others – not all are terrific, but all are good – because the story is very compelling and detailed, in addition to being just fun to read.  Wilks’s pacing and suspense are always excellently done.  There is enough romance peppered in to still call these “romance” though they really are becoming more “urban fantasy” in this book – there’s no romantic discovery and climax (so to speak) in this one.

The one thing that is consistent in Wilks’s books is the quality of her prose.   I frequently find myself gobsmacked by her simple turn of phrase.  She’ll make something very prosaic into something very elegant with a simple selection of words.  I’m in awe of writers who can do this.  Who can take the every day and make it more because that item is described thru the filter of their brain.

I won’t spend too much time here on the plot or other elements of the book, except to say that it’s good.  The suspense is riveting – the murder mystery plot is very well done, the familial tension is a very close second (I hatesssss Rules’s ex), and the clan politics are pretty fascinating.

This was  another excellent entry in Wilks’s World of the Lupi.  I highly recommend it to anyone following the series, fans of Wilks, and to anyone looking for a good Urban Fantasy whether you’ve read Wilks or not.

Grade: A

Read reviews of other books in the series by following its tag.

Summary:

Welcome to Eileen Wilks’s world of the lupi, of “strange magic [and] fantastic realms,”* where some sins are so dark and unlikely, no one thought to forbid them…

FBI agent Lily Yu is in North Carolina with her lover and mate Rule Turner, lu nuncio of the Nokolai werewolf clan, where he is to take custody of his son from the boy’s grandmother. It’s a purely personal trip until Rule, in wolf form, finds three bodies in a shallow grave. They carry the stench of death magic, which makes the murders a federal crime. Lily takes charge of the investigation, and soon realizes that nothing adds up-not the motives, not even the accused killer, who’s behind bars when death strikes again.

But murder, however bizarre, is an everyday affair for Lily, who was a homicide cop before being recruited into the FBI’s Magical Crimes Division. A more personal shock arrives in the person of Rule’s son’s mother. Why is she challenging Rule’s long standing plan to bring his son to live among the Nokolai?

But family must take a back seat when the violence escalates, and there’s no rhyme or reason for the killer’s next strike-a killer who may not even be of this world…

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series, in reading order: