REVIEW by Dolly: Dead Spots by Melissa F. Olson (@melissafolson , @fidget78)

Scarlett Bernard knows about personal space: step within ten feet of her, and any supernatural spells or demonic forces are instantly defused—vampires and werewolves become human again, and witches can’t get out so much as a “hocus pocus.” This special skill makes her a null and very valuable to Los Angeles’s three most powerful magical communities, who utilize her ability to scrub crime scenes clean of all traces of the paranormal to keep humanity, and the LAPD, in the dark.

But one night Scarlett’s late arrival to a grisly murder scene reveals her agenda and ends with LAPD’s Jesse Cruz tracking her down to strike a deal: he’ll keep quiet about the undead underworld if she helps solve the case. Their pact doesn’t sit well with Dash, the city’s chief bloodsucker, who fears his whole vampire empire is at stake. And when clues start to point to Scarlett, it’ll take more than her unique powers to catch the real killer and clear her name.

A completely different type of Urban Fantasy. Refreshing idea.

You know how sometimes you just browse the Kindle book list.  Well, that’s where I found this first novel by Melissa Olson.  The premise is different and thought provoking.  An individual who can actually stop magic with in her radius of approximately 10 feet.  Who could use a person of such talent.  It appears the supe community certainly could.  Scarlett Bernard is in demand to clean up after the Vampires, Werewolves and Witches when things go wrong.  It could be as simple as disposing of animal sacrifices or in some cases, bodies.  Humans don’t know about the magic in their world and the “Old World” wants to keep it that way.

This is a novel storyline and is pretty well executed.  Ms. Olson has the basics down.  A good storyline, a broken heroine, a murder mystery, and bunches of tension.  The execution was a little rough.  Switching back and forth between Scarlett and one of her possible love interests, Jesse, is a bit choppy.  The storyline was interesting enough to overcome that though.  Hopefully with the next novel, and I sincerely hope there is one, Ms Olson’s story will flow more smoothly.  The world building is excellent, the characters not entirely fleshed out but I don’t always expect that in a first of a series.  I like to watch the protagonist grow.

The author has a good idea and I hope she continues to run with it.  I will definitely read the next in the series.  She has me hooked so far.

My rating:  3.75 Stars

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