Reviewed by Janey Phillips

Take a seat, shut the door, turn off your phones, and get comfortable- this is a good one. Smart, witty biting, stinging dialogue. Quick, tense, gory, exhilarating action. Hot, steamy, sensuous, and yes romantic love scenes. You get it all with Jeaniene Frost’s latest urban fantasy, One Foot in the Grave. This is the second book in the Night Huntress series. If you didn’t read the first book, Halfway to the Grave, you needn’t worry. Miss Frost does an excellent job of getting you up to speed on what happened in the first book. If you did read the first book, you also have little to worry about – she doesn’t do a boring blow by blow or rehash of what prevoiously occurred. In fact, she does an excellent job of integrating the salient points and catching everyone up on the mythology, world building and characters – seamlessly allowing you to pick up where the new adventure begins.

I must admit, after reading the first book, Halfway to the Grave, which I loved, I was a bit unnerved by the way it ended. I won’t give anything away, but sufficient to say, after I read the last page of a very excellent book I was disturbed, to say the least. If you’ve read Halfway to the Grave you might know what I mean. BUT – since I really enjoyed the first book, and I could not wait to find out what happened to Cat and Bones – our hero and heroine, it was with eager anticipation that I read One Foot in the Grave. And, may I say, WOW, I’m glad I did.

One Foot in the Grave starts four years after Halfway to Grave ended. Cat Crawfield has spent those four years being the head of a homeland security unit designed to save humanity from the creatures of the night. It wasn’t a decision she came to lightly – in fact one of the reasons she decided to join the unit was to protect her lover – Bones, a master vampire. She loved him, she left him, and she’s trying to get on with her life. But not a day goes by when she doesn’t think of him. The book opens with Cat in a fight for her life with a master vampire. Jeaniene Frost holds no punches, it’s raw, edgy and action packed.

When we finally see Bones again, we come to know that he’s spent the last four years searching for Cat. And when they finally do meet, at a wedding of all places, sparks fly and you’re rooting for them to get back together. Bravo to Miss Frost for NOT making the book about one big misunderstanding between the protagonists – with them finally getting together in the end. She could have gone that way. Instead she makes it about the larger story and how the hero and heroine, Cat and Bones, will come together as lovers and how they will survive in a world where she is a half-breed and he is a full fledged master vampire; after all her job is to rid the world of his kind. It’s also an action packed suspense – there’s a hit out on Cat – there seems to be a lot of people who want her dead, and there are plenty of suspects to choose from. Bones is the one ‘person’ who can help keep her alive. The book is filled with twists and surprises.

So with One Foot in the Grave, you get it all. Suspense, mystery, twists and turns and of course – romance. The love between Cat and Bones is palpable and rich. And Miss Frost has created a heroine equal in strength, cunning and intelligence to her partner. Her dialogue is quick, witty and succinct. The book is also filled with secondary characters – members of Cat’s unit, her best friend Denise, her mother, and of course the creatures of the night. They all contribute to the sassy, bold and rich story telling. Bravo Miss Frost, I’m looking forward to continuing the journey that is the Night Huntress Series.