"Fabulous romantic fantasy thriller"

Most people ridicule H.U.G. members as lunatic conspiracy buffs seeing the improbable. However, the members of the Humans Under Ground group know that though paranoid, they are right about nasty happenings. This time the threat is the goblins going after possession of the magical generator. Xanthe of H.U.G. believes the Motor City police too weak and ineffective to stop the goblins so she sends her disciple Io to end that potential problem.

Io meets the notorious Jack Frost in Goblin Town just beneath the Motor City. They are attracted to one another from the start, but she keeps her distance partially out of fear because he is a death fey. Still as they work on stopping the Goblins, whose plan is even more devious than Xanthe told Io, she and Jack fall in love, but first they must win the day against impossible probability and somehow stay alive doing this and that makes for even more impossible odds.

By page thirteen this reviewer began thinking of shutting down the novel and not critiquing it as it was impossible to follow. However, because of enjoying Melanie Jackson's previous romantic speculative fictions such as THE SELKIE and DOMINION, I decided to persevere for a few more chapters, but not past page fifty. Four hours later I had finished a fabulous romantic fantasy thriller. The story line needs a couple chapters to let the audience know this isn't Kansas, but once the alternate world is introduced the plot turns into an exciting other world fantasy thriller starring two delightful protagonists on a quest to save an unbelieving and unthankful world. Those fans that stay the course will relish this walk on Ms. Jackson's weird wild side.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted July 31, 2003

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Summary

Welcome to Motor City

Detroit has been taken over by goblins and become a city-state run by an evil warlord who has ambitions of world domination. Police have failed to apprehend him. Left to thwart him and save the human world are two faerie agents provocateur; the powerful death fey, Jack Frost, and the elusive siren fey, Io Cyphre.