'Paranormal Investigator, Sidney Lake doesn’t jump at shadows. The weird stuff is her jurisdiction. When the mangled body of a supposedly extinct creature turns up in New York City’s subway system, she’s number one on the Medical Examiner’s speed dial.
'But this case hits too close to home when clues point her toward the truth about her parents’ brutal murder twelve years ago. Her boss Mitchell Harris, questions whether she should continue to investigate. However, Sidney insists on facing her greatest fears and putting her parents’ memory to rest once and for all.
'What she uncovers sheds a light on secrets that reach further into the darkness than she ever wanted to go… and leads her to a future she never imagined.'
I love a good bit of urban fantasy. A secret world of monsters and magics hidden beneath the real world is a set up for so many good stories and popular television shows. Whether it's Harry Potter, or Buffy The Vampire Slayer, or even The X-Files, the idea that there's more to the world than you can actually see is such an alluring concept that it's one people keep coming back to time and time again. Because of this there's a lot of books that fit into the genre, and sometimes it can be hard to stand out amongst the competition. Sarah L. Blair's Darkness Shifting is a book that I don't think a huge amount of people have heard of, but deserves to stand out amongst books in its genre.
The story follows Sidney Lake, a woman in her mid-twenties who works for a special organisation that investigates and polices paranormal beings and incidents around New York City. It's kind of like The X-Files, but without being seen as a fringe group that's made fun of. Whilst we don't get to see a huge amount of how the organisation works, we get to see Sidney and her colleagues called into police and federal incidents and be treated with respect. In some ways it made me think of S.H.I.E.L.D. during the early stages of the MCU, where you didn't quite know who they were, but they were walking in with special ID's and knew what they were doing so you made way for them because you're way out of your depth.
Joining Sidney is her partner Williams, who might be one of the nicest sidekick characters in one of these books. Sidney is definitely the lead here, it's not Mulder and Scully or Sam and Dean, so don't expect Williams to come into the spotlight too much. But when he is around he's the best kind of support for Sidney there is. He's kind and caring, sweet and funny, and loyal to a fault. And the fact that there isn't any kind of romance or sexual tension between a male and female partnership makes it so much better too. He's the sweet and goofy older brother that everyone would want. Plus his willingness to crack a joke at the most inappropriate moment, and being a wonderful father, made him a character that I not only wanted to see make it out alive, but would actively want to spend some time with.
The previously mentioned sexual tension is instead given over to Sidney's boss, Mitch. A man almost twice her age who recruited her into the organisation years before, he proves to be a good romantic foil. I have to be honest, I'm usually not comfortable with relationships with large age gaps, particularly with much older men. I think that they can sometimes seem slightly predatory, with older men preying on younger and less experienced women. This was not the case here, however. Sidney is such a strong and capable character that I never once got the indication that Mitch might be one of those creepy older guys. Sidney just wouldn't stand for that kind of thing. Instead he's the rock for her to lean on when things get tough.
There are a number of times during the book where Sidney goes through some serious physical and emotional trauma, and each time Mitch is there for her. He doesn't do this to make himself look like the good guy, or use it a pretence to get into her pants. He's doing it because he's a good person. He understands that Sidney is younger than him, and that she might not want to lock herself into a relationship with a man twice her age, so he gives her the space to be who she wants to be and do what she wants to do whilst being there for her the instant she needs him.
The relationship between the two of them is one of the more enjoyable aspects of the book, mainly because it was treated in a very adult way. Often times books that involve romance will put me off a little, particularly if it's too over done. I don't like stories where people are soulmates three days after meeting each other and initially hating each other. This kind of relationship though, one that's evolved over years, where each person in it has thought long and hard about the kind of person they are and what they want out of life feels so much more grounded that I was able to get on board with it much easier.
I won't go into the story too much, as the twisting narrative that packs in the surprises and subverts expectations is one of the best things about the book. That being said, I will talk a little bit about the way that Blair presents the world that she's made.
Going into the book we know nothing about the kinds of creatures that inhabit it, or what the rules are regarding the supernatural. Instead of bombarding the reader with these kinds of facts they're given to us slowly, revealed if and when they become pertinent to the story. We learn werewolves exist when Sidney is called into a crime scene with one. Demons get mentioned when one causes some havoc, and we learn ghosts exist when it comes up in casual conversation.
When you're introducing readers to a new world there's really a few main ways to get them up to speed on how things work. One is to have a completely brand new character who's learning everything fresh and can act as the eyes of the audience. This is similar to Harry learning he's a wizard in the Harry Potter books, where we discover the word alongside him and every new experience for him is one for us. Another way of doing it is to have experienced characters who are used to the world, and the information is given to the readers outside of conversations. Whilst this method can mean that readers get a lot of useful information and background world building it can sometimes feel like an info dump and comes across very stale.
Then there's the approach that Blair took, where we're dropped into the middle of things. When this is done badly readers can feel lost, but in cases like this we're given enough respect to be able to keep up with things and to learn as we go. The characters don't explain the stuff they already know, and we're not given masses of encyclopedia entries on monsters, instead the story presents things to us. That's all. The story provides us with the world in such a way that we don't need the explanations and info dumps because the world just works. This not only speaks volumes for how well crafted the narrative is, but for Blair's ability as an author.
I read the book in one night. I picked it up in the afternoon, put it down once to eat, then kept reading through to the early hours of the morning to finish it. I probably shouldn't have done that, and was actively keeping myself awake to finish it; but the story was so good that I didn't want to wait even those few hours through sleep to find out what happened next.
I don't often use phrases like 'page turner' or 'impossible to put down' because often books aren't like that, even when they're some of the best you've read. But on this occasion I do have to use those words. I stormed through the book because I found it engrossing. I loved the world that Blair was building and the characters she was inhabiting it with. Part of me wishes I had taken longer, just so the experience wouldn't have ended so fast, but there was no way I was going to make myself stop reading and end the fun.
Darkness Shifting is not only a great entry into the Urban Fantasy genre, but an example of how to do the genre right. It excels in every area and left me wanting to read more the moment it was done. I really hope that the next book in the series comes soon, but more than that I really hope that more people discover this absolute gem. So if you've never read this but it sounds like something you'd like please pick it up and give it a chance. Then tell others about it. I'm sure that if hordes of eager fans come to Sarah Blair asking for the next instalment it'll help encourage her to write it, which means I get to read the next book even quicker.
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