Review: Out of the Shade by Diane Barr

Out of the Shade
Author: Diane Barr
Release Date: July 15, 2011
Publisher: Muse it Up
The Shade Book #1
ISBN13:  9781927085233
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Review Copy Source: Author 

Faeries that carry katanas and guns instead of sprinkling magic dust and granting wishes. Dragons that reanimate the dead. Drug-crazed goblins terrorizing neighborhoods. Illegal demons attempting to conjure the alter ego of an Egyptian goddess.

Sounds like something out of a nightmare, right? Wrong. It’s my everyday life.

Welcome to the Shade, where all the creatures of myth hang out and where I, Detective Gabrielle Tate of the Supernatural Task Force, police them. My partner is AWOL and my sexy dragon boss is leaving nothing to chance as we deal with goblins high on Escape and a serial killer—or worse, a nest of rogue vampires—leaving the drained corpses of faeries and cops all over town.

And then there’s the psychotic demons trying to conjure the goddess Hathor’s alter ego, Sekhmet, to destroy humanity. As a faery and direct descendent of Hathor, I’m eager to manifest her power and use it to combat evil. At the same time, I need to learn how to control the accompanying bloodlust. How? By taking lessons from the charismatic leader of the local vampire clan, of course.

If you thought the mean streets of Detroit were tough, you’ve never seen the Shade.

The blurb for OUT OF THE SHADE did a really good job of summarizing the book. Gabrielle is a Faerie and Detective on the Supernatural Task Force keeping all the otherworldly people above the law. I absolutely loved her personality and attitude. She was super fun to follow and learn about. There is a tad bit of romance lumped in between Gabrielle and a sexy vampire named Damien with hints of something to follow for Gabrielle and Jett. Jett is Gabrielle boss but becomes her partner after her regular partner goes AWOL and they worked great together. You get a good feel of all the secondary characters and they bring a great quality to the story.

You learn early on who the bad guys are but the there is still some mystery thrown in as Gabrielle investigates the going on's. The world building was great and I enjoyed all the explanations. There was tons of action and suspense. There is a great amount of creativity with everyone's gifts and the way they do things. I will defiantly pick up any books that come next.


I gave it 4/5 stars