Review: This Case is Gonna Kill Me by Phillipa Bornikova

This Case is Gonna Kill Me
Author:Phillipa Bornikova
Release Date: September 4, 2012
Publisher: Tor
Linnet Ellery Book #1
ISBN:   0765326825
ISBN13: 9780765326829
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Review Copy Source: Publisher

 

What happens when The Firm meets Anita Blake? You get the Halls of Power—our modern world, but twisted. Law, finance, the military, and politics are under the sway of long-lived vampires, werewolves, and the elven Alfar. Humans make the best of rule by “the Spooks,” and contend among themselves to affiliate with the powers-that-be, in order to avoid becoming their prey. Very loyal humans are rewarded with power over other women and men. Very lucky humans are selected to join the vampires, werewolves, and elves—or, on occasion, to live at the Seelie Court.

Linnet Ellery is the offspring of an affluent Connecticut family dating back to Colonial times. Fresh out of law school, she’s beginning her career in a powerful New York “white fang” law firm. She has high hopes of eventually making partner.

But strange things keep happening to her. In a workplace where some humans will eventually achieve immense power and centuries of extra lifespan, office politics can be vicious beyond belief. After some initial missteps, she finds herself sidelined and assigned to unpromising cases. Then, for no reason she can see, she becomes the target of repeated, apparently random violent attacks, escaping injury each time through increasingly improbable circumstances. However, there’s apparently more to Linnet Ellery than a little old-money human privilege. More than even she knows. And as she comes to understand this, she’s going to shake up the system like you wouldn’t believe….

THIS CASE IS GONNA KILL ME was a book full of Vampires, Lawyers, and a sexy PI. When Linnet Ellery joins the white fang law group of a "family" friend she is treated like crap. The others think she got the job only because of her connection and because of that she is flung to the lower rung of cases. Her boring life takes a turn when a werewolf shows up late at night and kills her coworker right in front of her leaving her to solve not only his murder but the cases that may have lead to that murder.

The vampires are at the top of everything in Phillipa Bornikova's world. Children of powerful humans are fostered out to vampires and brought up as power players under their watch. I didn't really find Linnet Anita Blake like. She started off a bit boring but once she got rolling on her cases she became daring and a bit more fun to follow. Anita is more gun blazing take no prisoners where Linnet played a lot of things safe but was smart with her choices as well. The sexy PI John O’Shea joins Linnet in her search for justice and answers and they connect pretty quickly. The plot moved at a nice pace with plenty of danger and action. I enjoyed the alternate world that was thrown in on top of the fantastic world that was created. The ending leaves most of the storyline solved but Linnet in a position for another crazy rescue mission. 

The world is what definitely took the cake for me in the first book for the Linnet Ellery series. I found myself more connected to that than anything else that was thrown in. I do want to get to know Linnet a little better and I also want to see her up against the Alfar queen. It should definitely make for some interesting situations. 

I gave it 3.5/5 stars