River Marked - Mercy Thompson #6 - Patricia Briggs

     Yes, it's taken six books and lots of ups and downs, but it's here.  Patricia Briggs would like to cordially invite you to the marriage of coyote shifter Mercedes Thompson and werewolf and Alpha of the Columbia Basin Pack Adam Hauptman.  Just like everything else the two have shared, be it courtship or romance their marriage will be anything, but the norm. 
    That's only the beginning as the two set out upon their ten day honeymoon.  Adam takes Mercy to an as-yet-unopened campground that he did security for upon the banks of the Columbia River.  Being alone, away from Pack responsibilities, the garage and everything else in their lives makes Mercy happier beyond belief, but when she finds out where the trailer that Adam borrowed for their camping trip came from she is not a happy shifter.  It's borrowed from Uncle Mike, a fae, and Mercy knows to never borrow anything from the fae because the strings attached can hang you.
     Mercy is unlike most shapeshifters, she is a walker, native to this land, and she can see ghosts because of this.  When her father's spirit comes to visit, a man who has never come to her no matter how much danger Mercy has ever been in, She knows that something worse is afoot than she has ever encountered before.  She finds it in the depths of the Columbia River where innocents are dying.  It is the River Devil and it's come back from the depths of memory to stalk humanity again.  As other shifters make their presence known can Mercy by rediscovering her lost past purge this evil that stalks our present?
     Wow, been a long time coming, huh?  Mercy and Adam's marriage, and she pulled it off flawlessly.  The mistake would have been really going for it and making it bigger than it should have been because neither of the characters are like that.  The wedding simply serves the purpose of setting up the story that takes place in River Marked.  The plotting of River Marked is the most impressive part of it because it isn't the big bad that gets all of the spotlight, nor should it.  It is finally, after six books, and bits and kernels, finally shedding some light on shifter history.  That is where Ms. Briggs will grab fans of this series and keep them up past their bedtimes.  Where she introduces an Achetype, well several, but one in particual that is near and dear to Mercy's heart.
     River Marked is a turning point in the Mercy Thompson (nee' Hauptman) series.  Mercy finally gets the family that she has struggled for her entire life.  She's drifted from proto-family to proto-family, but never had one to call, "Mine."  That's the important part and the turning point, both she and Adam consider their mate their's and their's alone and no one will change that.  That's why I believe it's a turning point in the series.  Mercy finally has someone she can count on always, and that will change things, but only for the better.
     But, please, knowing our favourite coyote shifter, please don't think she's going to stop going out on her own to 'protect' them from things too dangerous.  The chaos-magnet coyote couldn't thrive any other way.

River Marked - Mercy Thompson #6 receives 4 out of 4 stars

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