Review: Mercy Thompson #8: Night Broken

Title: Mercy Thompson #8: Night Broken

Author: Patricia Briggs

Date of Publication: March 11, 2014

Formats Available: Hardcover, Paperback, E-book

Buy This Book: Amazon

Synopsis: An unexpected phone call heralds a new challenge for Mercy. Her mate Adam’s ex-wife is in trouble, on the run from her new boyfriend. Adam isn’t the kind of man to turn away a person in need—and Mercy knows it. But with Christy holed up in Adam’s house, Mercy can’t shake the feeling that something about the situation isn’t right.

Soon, her suspicions are confirmed when she learns that Christy has the farthest thing from good intentions. She wants Adam back and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen, including turning Adam’s pack against Mercy.

Mercy isn’t about to step down without a fight, but there’s a more dangerous threat circling. Christy’s ex is more than a bad man—in fact, he may not be human at all. As the bodies start piling up, Mercy must put her personal troubles aside to face a creature with the power to tear her whole world apart.

My Review: 

We all know how much I absolutely adore the Mercy Thompson series. I could go on for days about what makes this series, hands down, the absolute best paranormal romance series ever written. With captivating plots, unique characters, and plenty of action; it seems that each book in this series never fails to deliver exactly what I'm looking for. Mercy is one of the strongest female leads in urban fantasy and I just love her attitude and personality.

All that being said I'm not going to lie, Night Broken wasn't one of my favorites in the series but, at the same time, it was infinitely better than most of the paranormal romances out there. Compared to the rest of the books in the series I felt like Night Broken wasn't as exciting nor was the romance quite up to the high standards set by previous books. Not only that but, I really missed some of the characters that didn't make an appearance in this novel- Ben especially.  However, I was still completely enamored by the world and characters Briggs has created and I found myself finishing this novel in less than a day because I just couldn't stop reading!

Even though the main plot of this novel was Mercy defeating the paranormal creature stalking Christy, as well as a little side plot about the walking stick, I was much more interested in the interactions between Mercy and Christy. This is the first time in the series Christy has made an extended appearance and I was curious to see how Briggs was going to handle it. Overall I'm a little torn over how to feel, on one hand I have a huge amount of respect for Mercy for being as calm and polite as she was. Christy completely took over Mercy's home, and even tried to manipulate Adam for her own purposes, and Mercy was, for the most part, perfectly nice to her. On the other hand I felt like Mercy was just a little too calm about everything, Christy even went as far as answering Adam's phone and Mercy said nothing. At the end of the novel Mercy did get a little bit of revenge, but it was a long time coming.

One of the things I miss most about this series that is slowly becoming less apparent is the teasing between Mercy and Adam. I felt like the two of them barely had a moment alone and the moments they did have alone weren't as filled with banter as they used to be. However, the romance really took a back seat in this novel, likely because of Christy's presence, so I'm hoping the next novel brings back the toe curling moments between Adam and Mercy that I've come to love so much!

Though it wasn't my favorite Night Broken was still a great addition to an already fantastic series and I'm already looking forward to the next book in the series! Briggs has a true talent for writing and though Night Broken wasn't the best book in the series I still wholeheartedly recommend it!

5/5