#BookReview: Pack Dynamics, by Julie Frost
The Urban Fantasy Medical Thriller, now with more gunfire.
After going through Julie Frost’s short story in the Planetary: Venus anthology, I wanted to see more of where her characters came from.
I didn’t see this rabbit hole coming.
The Story
Before our story begins, Private Investigator Ben Lockwood was an Army Ranger, held POW in Afghanistan for seven months, being tortured in new and creative ways that I wonder if the cave dwellers were smart enough to ever actually use. Now that he’s back stateside, he works a desk job at the PI firm owned by his mother’s girlfriend. It’s a nice boring desk job. His latest case is a nice boring investigation into possible pharmaceutical espionage.
So why does page one see Ben being kidnapped and tortured for information on the case? Good question.
Ben’s client is Alex Jarrett, a CEO of Big Pharma that specializes in nanotechnology medications and treatments. But, he will not deal with the supernatural, so vampires and werewolves are just plain out of luck. This includes his nearest competitor, a werewolf married to a vampire, who may be dying—for good.
Yes, we have science fiction medical technology, werewolves and vampires.
For the record, no, I haven’t spoiled anything. This doesn’t even get us to page 50 of a nearly 300 page novel.
This boils down to being an urban fantasy medical thriller, now with more gunfire. And kidnappings. And torture. Seriously, this feels like if Jim Butcher had a Harry Dresden book set in a hospital, yet the building was still standing when it was all over, and not on fire.
It is strange at how much of this book is character driven. It’s hard to tell given how much is going on. I’m not even certain that this book even thought about slowing down at any point. But don’t worry, if it did, like a Flash Gordon serial, something else happens.
The Characters
Pack Dynamics boils down to four main characters and two antagonists, who are also mysteriously well-drawn. I almost expect the villains of this piece to have their own prequel novel at some point.
PI and veteran Ben Lockwood … this poor bastard cannot get a break. He has a raging case of PTSD that’s “getting better” when this book hits him. Afghanis stuck him with heroine, got him addicted, and then forced him into cold turkey withdrawal, leaving him with needles as his biggest trigger. Guess who is this novel’s central guinea pig? But he keeps bouncing back.
Ben’s girlfriend/coworker Janni Miller is one of the few things keeping Ben together. She’s your standard short person
Alex Jarrett is Tony Stark if he went into nano-pharmaceuticals instead of military hardware. Megan Graham is Pepper Potts if she were a werewolf in her spare time—both needing to manage her boss while while trying to to care too much for him.
The World
While this is a traditional “secret history” sort of world, an open secret among certain classes. Society won’t acknowledge it, the Supernaturals won’t openly talk about it,
Surprisingly, much of the action takes place around one estate and a few outlier buildings scatter throughout the LA area.
Politics
Not applicable.
Content Warning
Torture.
Lots of torture.
It’s all in flashbacks, so I don’t think it goes much about PG-13. Or maybe I’m just jaded.
Who is this for?
If you liked James White’s Sector General, but wanted medical mysteries in fantasy, this is for you. Especially if you don’t mind a lot of Jim Butcher-level character development.
Why buy it?
Because it was a fun novel that you can enjoy even if just to appreciate the character byplay. The story is tight, the characters are fun, and I guarantee you will want to see what happens next. The writing was smart the premise was unique. And I want her to write more in this series, so please buy more so she’ll write other nove.