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Kelly Meding, I have a bone to pick with you. After introducing a seriously awesome minor character in Three Days To Dead, you neglected to include even one scene with Smedge the Bridge Troll in the sequel. Sure, you gave us a seriously hot shape-shifting osprey who can go into angel mode with Phin. You introduced us to a sweet-yet-strong kestrel shifter, who alternates between protected and protector in Aurora. You brought in the mysterious shifter lawyer with a talent for vague clues with Michael Jenner. So, one could say that the new awesome outweighs the old awesome.

But I miss Smedge. I just want that out there.

In spite of the lack of Bridge Troll in As Lie the Dead, the novel is a strong sequel as Evy’s adjustments to Chalice’s body continue. Rather than giving Evy any time to get the hang of things off stage, the novel picks up immediately where Three Days To Dead left off. Evy just can’t get a break (or a nap — I don’t know how she runs on so little sleep, with the exception of getting knocked unconscious); as soon as she and Wyatt make it back to Chalice’s apartment, she’s approached by Phin, one of the last surviving Owlkin (or bird Therians), who wants her to protect the last remaining members of their race, one of whom (Aurora) is very pregnant. Evy agrees and arranges for them to be safe even when she can’t be immediately nearby, just before she gets a call to come to the hospital, where Rufus St. James is still recovering from an arson attack on his apartment in Three Days To Dead. There, Evy and Wyatt both discover that the Therians are out for blood to avenge the murders of the Owlkins, and since Rufus led the attack, he’s the one to take thefall. Since Rufus was one of the few people to help Evy when the Triads wanted her dead, she’s determined to keep him from being executed for following orders. The only way to do that is to uncover who gives those orders — and she bargains with Phin to get four days to do it.

Of course, during her investigation, she discovers that a human-led group of Therians and other Dregs are planning to take matters into their own hands, getting a more massive revenge on the Triads and the humans they protect. And the human in charge has a mysterious connection to the Triads — one that leads Evy to question all the morality the Triads drilled into her. As Lie the Dead keeps the pace of Three Days To Dead, and the countdown from one mission to the next makes it hard to put the book down. Evy’s growth as a character — particularly as she comes into a new self-awareness due to her new body — says good things for where the series will go from here. She’s taking the readers from a simple, black-and-white world into a deeper, fuller understanding of who really stands between humanity and the things that go bump in the night. And I can’t wait to follow wherever she goes next.

Review by Alana Abbott

Tags | paranormal-romance, urban fantasy