The Grendel Affair

by Lisa Shearin

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery
Pages: 292
Series: SPI Files #1
Rating:

Synopsis:

We're Supernatural Protection & Investigations, known as SPI. Things that go bump in the night, the monsters you thought didn't exist? We battle them and keep you safe. But some supernatural baddies are just too big to contain, even for us...

When I moved to New York to become a world famous journalist, I never imagined that snagging a job at a seedy tabloid would change my career path from trashy reporter to undercover agent. I'm Makenna Fraser, a Seer for SPI. I can see through any disguise, shield, or spell that a paranormal pest can come up with. I track down creatures and my partner, Ian Byrne, takes them out.

Our cases are generally pretty routine, but a sickle-wielding serial killer has been prowling the city's subway tunnels. And the murderer's not human. The fiend in question, a descendant of Grendel--yes, that Grendel--shares his ancestor's hatred of parties, revelry, and drunkards. And with New Year's Eve in Times Square only two days away, we need to bag him quickly. Because if we don't find him--and the organization behind him--by midnight, our secret's out and everyone's time is up.

Lisa Shearin’s The Grendel Affair is a relatively typical urban fantasy sort of set-up, with much of the world unaware of magic and monsters, and others secretly working to keep that the case. The main character is a seer, working for a group run by a dragon and centered in New York, and the coolest thing about the book… is unfortunately spoilered by the title.

I’ve seen some reviews complaining about how useless Mac is, and I don’t think that’s entirely fair. She’s new to the job and not trained as a front-line agent, and though she’s definitely overconfident in the opening, she’s eager to learn and to listen to what those who are actually experts in the action say. She’s not the most useful combatant, but she does what she can, and she doesn’t shirk the danger when she is the right person for the job.

That said, I didn’t love her as a character either, mostly because I found her just kinda meh, a bit of a cipher. The same goes for pretty much all the characters, to be fair; Ian’s mostly just a cop stereotype who lost his partner etc etc. That’s partly because it’s the first book of a series and it needs time to grow, but it didn’t grab me.

Overall, it was fine, just not super exciting. I probably won’t read more.

Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)