FAIR GAME (Alpha & Omega #3)
by Patricia Briggs
PUBLISHER: Orbit (UK) | Penguin (USA)
RELEASE DATE: March 2012
FORMAT: Ebook, 304 pages
GENRE: Urban Fantasy
SUMMARY:
They say opposites attract. And in the case of werewolves Anna Latham and Charles Cornick, they mate. The son-and enforcer-of the leader of the North American werewolves, Charles is a dominant alpha. While Anna, an omega, has the rare ability to calm others of her kind. Now that the werewolves have revealed themselves to humans, they can’t afford any bad publicity. Infractions that could have been overlooked in the past must now be punished, and the strain of doing his father’s dirty work is taking a toll on Charles. Nevertheless, Charles and Anna are sent to Boston, when the FBI requests the pack’s help on a local serial killer case. They quickly realize that not only the last two victims were werewolves-all of them were. Someone is targeting their kind. And now Anna and Charles have put themselves right in the killer’s sights… (Goodreads)
REVIEWER: Laura
I’ve been a huge fan of Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series for ages, but while I have read her Alpha and Omega series and enjoyed them, I’ve not loved them quite as much. That was until this book! FAIR GAME was a bit of a game changer for me, I finally fell completely in love with Charles and Anna.
The main premise of the book is Anna and Charles helping the FBI looking for a serial killer targeting werewolves. This in itself is a really interesting backdrop. The mystery, but also the overall politics of how the world is dealing with the revelation that werewolves and other supernatural beings now exist. The politics between the FBI and various different government sectors, combined with the fae and werewolves is well written and is developing a great longer term storyline.
Anna and Charles have such a lovely relationship. With Charles being so powerful, old and wise he could easily over power and dominate Anna. But he doesn’t. It’s Anna who is the expert for the FBI, Charles is just her bodyguard. He strives to encourage Anna to be the best she can be, while still getting away with quite a bit of that alpha maleness we all love so much!
Anna is an unusual heroine. She’s certainly not kick-ass, but she is a survivor and she’s definitely grown throughout the series. She’s got stronger and people continually underestimate her. She has a gentle and kind nature, but is clever and works hard to help others.
FAIR GAME has plenty of action scenes and the plot is well developed. You have the strands with the FBI, but you also have Charles with his own ghost problem and the greater exploration of how Charles and Anna’s marriage works. I really enjoy how Anna and Charles’ wolves have wills and personalities of their own within the characters. It adds an extra dynamic to things. I’m also a fan of Charles’s Indian heritage and find it equally fascinating the inclusion of magic along with their werewolf skills and abilities. Briggs is a brilliant world building and I aways adore her characters. They live and breathe in a way you can envisage them walking down the street next to you.
The story mixed action, mystery, suspense and romance beautifully. The ending is a shocker, but not in the way you think it will be. It delivers something unexpected and is a significant development for future books. I honestly cannot wait to see how that unravels.
VERDICT:
Loved this book, couldn’t put it down and the pages just kept on turning. If you’re a fan of Briggs’ Mercy books, I would urge these books a go and if you haven’t read either you definitely need to go on a book buying expedition.
RATING: 
PATRICIA BRIGGS ONLINE
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BOOKS IN SERIES ORDER:
1. Cry Wolf
2. Hunting Ground
3. Fair Game
US COVER
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10 Comments
I really want to read this series, but I have to finish the Mercy books before I start yet another series LOL Sounds great though.
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I still think the Mercy books in general are better, but this book was the best of the series so far.
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I’ve never been bought on this series like I have on the Mercy series. I’ve only read book one and book two has sat on my TBR mountain for ages. I should site down and read it, but others keep leap-frogging it.
After you review, I might just have to catch up slightly.
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I’m kind of with you on this actually Gemma, I didn’t think books one and two were as good as the Mercy books, but FAIR GAME was really good the writing was up there with the Mercy books, I really enjoyed it.
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I love love love this book! Wasn’t the ending just completely crazy?? I’m so excited to see what happens next xD And I love that we found out more about the Fae and how they work in this book since they’ve been kind of a mystery in both the series so far…. >.>
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The ending was crazy, but good and the implicattions are HUGE I can’t wait to see where she takes it. I too liked finding out more about the Fae.
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I loved this one too! The end made my mouth drop open. Very well done.
I’ve actually thought the past two Mercy books were kinda slow – I’ve started anticipating this series a little more….
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Oh I like the Mercy books a lot and prefer them overall to this series. But the writing was really tight in FAIR GAME up there with the early Mercy books. The ending was really well done, it came out of nowhere and brilliant… Eagerly anticipating the next one now.
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I feel the same way you do about this series. Although not as good as the Mercy books up to this point, Fair Game brought it up to the right level. It’s funny, I am actually writing my review for this book (just finished about 10 minutes ago) and your review came up in my Google Alerts.
Love the site! Will definitely be subscribing!
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Thanks for the lovely comments and so glad you like the site
Exactly FAIR GAME brought the books totally up on a level with the Mercy books. It was really well written, I was surprised really as I didn’t expect it to be as good as it was and couldn’t put it down in places.
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