Greywalker by Kat Richardson

(From the back cover of the book)

"Harper Blaine was slogging along as a small-time PI when a two-bit perp's savage assault left her for dead.

For two minutes, to be precies.

When harper came to in the hospital, she begins to feel a bit... strange, She sees things that can only be described as weird - shapes emerging from a foggy grey mist, snarling teeth, creatures roaring."

Greywalker thrusts Harper from a a world of folks looking for lost loved ones and family heirlooms into a nightmare realm of ghosts, witches and vampires. The book starts right off with Harper's assault and builds into a roil of intrigue, darkness, and horror.

Harper is a delightful character. Not easliy swayed over by her new-found gifts - or curse as she would describe it - she struggles with trying to lead a normal life as the abnormal slams against the walls of reason. She's strong, pragmatic, and at the same time very vulnerable. She's a very appealing character.

the supporting cast are fun and diverse; from an eclectic techno-geek to a husband/ wife team that live and love functionally on both sides of the "real/ unreal" coin to a host of vampires that for the first time in ages actually left me with chills. Vamps have been protrayed as slightly more or less then human for so long that I've grown jaded to their existance. Kat's vampires are dark, violent forces that make you want to run for the nearest church and bathe in a pool of garlic. Not that those trappings appear in the novel, just my reaction.

I highly recommend this novel to anyone who loves a good detective story and the Urban Fantasy genre. It has it all and more. I'm looking forward to reading more of Harper's cases and the creatrues living along side the Grey.