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Bureau: Clay White – Kim Fielding
Someone—or something—is murdering young men in San Francisco. Clay White has been fired from the Bureau of Trans-Species Affairs, but he’s determined to track down the killer. When he comes across a vampire named Marek, Clay assumes he’s caught the perp. But the encounter with Marek turns out to be more complicated than Clay expected, and it forces him to deal with his own troubled past and murky psyche. As Clay discovers, sometimes the truth doesn’t come easy—and the monsters are not who we expect.
I’m happy that Tenrael and Charles made appearances and it was great how everybody was working together.
For this installment, we get vampires. I haven’t read a vampire story in quite a while and Clay White, the story did just fine. It’s a hunt for a serial killer who left desiccated corpses so bloodsuckers were the obvious suspects. Clay White, the titular character was approached by a vampire, Marek, who offered to help him find the killer. They did find the killer or rather the killer found Clay. The rescue scene kind of just happened really fast (was all a blur to Clay) so I think the focus is really on Clay, what he is about and his transformation. The attraction between Clay and Marek was a given and there was nothing really new but Kim Fielding still managed to hold my interest. So far, this series is looking really good. Can’t wait for book three.
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and love
Soundtrack: Funtime
Artist: Iggy Pop
Album: The Idiot(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36316189-clay-white)
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Bureau: Corruption – Kim Fielding
Once a proud demon of the night sky who carried nightmares to humans, Tenrael has spent decades in captivity as the star attraction of a traveling carnival. He exists in miserable servitude to men who plunk down ten dollars to fulfill their dark desires.
Charles Grimes is half human, half… something else. For fifteen years he’s worked for the Bureau of Trans-Species Affairs, ridding the country of dangerous monsters. When his boss sends him to Kansas to chase a rumor about a captive demon, Charles figures it’s just another assignment. Until he meets Tenrael.
I really liked this!
Poor Tenrael, he might be a demon but he didn’t deserve the torture and abuse. He’s not really the ravager of innocents, eater of babies kind of demon. All he does is give people bad dreams. Charles is something of an angelic being on his father’s side but he didn’t really confirm it. Whatever he maybe, the moment he saw Tenrael, there was instant attraction. I normally don’t like insta-attraction/insta-lust but maybe we can chalk it up to the cosmic connection between the two. Anyway, It didn’t detract from the story. The romance was sweet with some M/s flavor and I would like think they got their HEA (hope to see them in the next book too). The world-building wasn’t in-depth since it’s a short story but I kind of wished it’s a full-length novel just so I could learn more about the entire AU and occult magic system. The setting was perhaps intentionally vague (it could have been the 1950s since they still wear hats) and gave plausibility to the traveling carnival part. The story was dark but poignant. I didn’t realize Kim Fielding writes dark stories (I read Speechless which was so fluffy) but she had me rooting for Tenrael and Charles from the beginning. Looking forward to the other books of this series!
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and loveSoundtrack: No One is Innocent
Artist: Sex Pistols
Album: The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35305623-corruption)
