At First Light

It's wonderful when you pick up a book with few expectations and then find yourself swept away by it so that you are reluctant to put it down until you reach the end. That's what happened to me with 'At First Light'.

I'd expected the book to be good because I had enjoyed 'Blood On The Tracks', the first book in Barbara Nickless' Sydney Rose Parnell series about an ex-soldier turned railroad cop and her service dog, but that was quite a dark and serious book with the mystery wrapped around the causes and effects of PTSD. 'At First Light' is also dark, it's about ritual killings after all, but it is, from the first page, a glorious cinematic entertainment that feels like a striking anime that uses strong lines and a dark palette to create show more an atmosphere that is one part threat, one part humour and two parts sheer escapism.

I was hooked after only a few chapters. I loved the wit and deliberately dramatic scene-setting. Then there's the puzzle of the posed dead body showing signs of a ritual killing and surrounded by what looked like Norse runes. What truly pulled me in was Dr Evan Wilding who has comic book graphic novel character written all over him. A British academic who has tenure at the University of Chicago where he lectures on semiotics, does falconry as a hobby, works with the Chicago police as a consulting forensic semiotician giving meaning to signs, intentional and unintentional, left behind by killers and who is also only fifty-three inches tall. The sight of him going toe-to-toe with an oversized narcissistic anti-intellectual Police Lieutenant made me smile.

The book wasn't all the Dr. Wilder show. The other main character is homicide detective Addie Bisset, a strong, independent woman who is feeling undervalued by the new Lieutenant who seems not to see policing as a suitable job for a woman. Addie drives a lot of the action in the book. She's also the reason for Evan Wilding's involvement, which gave the story a background hum of unrequited affection between the two.

I liked the way that Barbara Nicklass kept a nice balance between the puzzle and the personal. Solving the puzzle involved taking in large amounts of information about Norse mythology, different interpretations of Beowulf, the structure of Norse poetry and a detailed description of the how runes are translated yet all of this was managed in an engaging way that never dragged and was actually quite fun in a nerdy-but-cool kind of way. The personal part was fascinating. The characters were all a bit superhero larger than life but then that's what I like about superhero stories. Why be subtle when you can be graphically compelling?

But there was more to them than that. They became people who you started to care about and who you could see cared about each other. Barbara Nickless used this to create a slowly building sense of threat. Every time I saw something or someone that Dr Evan Wilding liked, I heard the echo of future loss, of grief waiting in the shadows and wonder whether they would survive until the end of the book.

I had great fun with this. I've already ordered the second book in the series 'Dark Of Night', which comes out later this year. show less

At First Light by Barbara Nickless
Dr. Evan Wilding #1

Challenging, intriguing, educational, very well written introduction to a series I am thrilled to have begun. I will be thinking about this one for quite a while!

What I liked:
* Dr. Evan Wilding: intelligent, master of words (semiotician), brother, professor, riddle solver, historian, into falconry, owner of Ginny, brother to River, police consultant, friend to Detective Addison Bisset, intriguing
* Detective Addison Bisset: homicide detective, secretive artist, sibling, dedicated, professional, good friend, serial dater, good friend of Evan, team player, want to know more about her
* Patrick: Addie’s police partner
* Ginny: Evan’s hawk
* Diana: assistant to Dr. Wilding, into axe show more throwing, strong, attractive, tall, intelligent, intriguing – can see her playing a part in future books
* The tie-in to Runes, Vikings, Bog Bodies and Poetry – The puzzle was fascinating
* The old Norse myths mentioned and my desire to do further study of them. I have played with runes before and may look for my set that are hiding somewhere in the house
* The side characters that may play parts in future books of the series…more than I want to list at the moment but do look forward to seeing them again
* That the serial killer was found and the reason for the murders explained – though I empathized I could not condone
* The potential for romance between Evan and one of the women in the book
* Wondering what will happen in book two of the series

What I didn’t like:
* The serial killer: warped, cruel, poet, damaged
* The misogynists and neo-Nazi Vikings
* The cruelty of some of the characters
* Having to wait till the next book is ready to read
* Having my computer die, losing the book, finding a way to read it even though it was trickier than expected

Did I enjoy this book? Definitely
Would I read more in this series? Without a doubt!

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars show less

Since I am a fan of Barbara Nickless' series featuring railroad detective Sydney Rose Parnell (the first two books in that series, Blood on the Tracks and Dead Stop, both made my Best Reads lists the year I read them), I wasn't about to pass up a chance to read the first in her new Dr. Evan Wilding series. At First Light is a very promising beginning, and I look forward to future books.

The strongest part of the book is the two main characters. Both are flawed, both are extremely intelligent, and I felt so at home with them, I would invite them here to the house. Addie Bisset is the more expected character: unhappy childhood, serial monogamist, and dealing with misogyny in the Chicago Police Department. At least her partner, Patrick, show more not only celebrates his Irish heritage, he's a good foil to Addie and has her back.

The character that really steps up to the plate is Dr. Evan Wilding, who not only has a brilliant mind perfectly suited to interpreting signs and symbols and their usage, he has dwarfism. This hero may have a bullet-proof mind, but he isn't exactly ten feet tall. Wilding has a perfect assistant whom I'm looking forward to seeing more of in future books, and I enjoyed learning more about him as his personal and professional lives unfolded. Evan and Addie are perfect for each other, but they're scared to death to show their true feelings. Why risk romance when they could lose this wonderful friendship if something goes wrong?

The mystery is a good one and kept me guessing. I wasn't fooled by some of the misdirection but I didn't have the killer's identity deduced before its reveal. That's always a plus. In fact, there's only one thing that dulled my enjoyment of At First Light: there's too much Viking lore! Don't get me wrong, I find Viking culture fascinating, but there was just too much of it, and the weight of all that research dragged the book down. I'm hoping that Nickless won't fall in love with her research again in the second book because-- with the characters of Addie and Evan, the author's talent in crafting strong mysteries, and the setting of Chicago-- I'm definitely going to read it.

(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Amazon) show less

Four stars for the first book in the series, and I can’t wait for the second one to be released.

What I like the most about this book are the characters. An unlikely hero partners with a sharp detective to catch a murder that is leaving, what appears to be, conflicting clues. Even the “experts” get it wrong. It has to be Dr. Wilding that puts together the puzzle risking his live to save some others.

Some things in the plot are predictable, but the well developed and likeable characters keeps you reading. And at the end, there are some surprises.

A very good book for thriller and mystery lovers that I can recommend.

At First Light is a suspenseful thriller about ancient runes and ritual murder that grabbed me from page one. After reading this author's Sydney Parnell series, I knew this new series would be good, but it has exceeded my expectations. I love this new character, Dr. Evan Wilding, a Semiotician—an expert interpreting signs and symbols left at crime scenes by serial killers. When Chicago PD detective Adrianne "Addie" Bisset and her partner, Patrick, discover a murder victim posed in the Calumet River, her first thought is to call her friend, Evan. As Addie and Evan track down an insane killer out for revenge, the plot takes the reader deep into the history of the Vikings, medieval literature, and the fascinating subject of bog bodies. I show more felt thoroughly entertained and educated after reading this book! I can't wait to see what these two get into in the next book in this series. show less

Here’s a clever, experienced and insightful author at the top of her game. Perfectly plotted. Relentlessly paced. Delightful characters and just enough banter and humour to balance the gruesome. I look forward to reading more by Barbara Nickless.

What a great new series! I loved the two main characters and how they worked together. I liked how each perspective, giving us an inside track into the mystery and all the hidden steps and pieces to it. I liked learning about the lore and symbols. Midway, I ran out of time to read on my kindle and flipped to audio and it was really good too! I was drawn in to the mystery but stayed for the characters. I loved this one.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.