Blood of Dawn by Tami Dane

TDane-Blood of Dawn

TDane-Blood of DawnSometimes I get in a mood for a good mystery but find myself still wanting aspects of the paranormal as I need an escape from “real” life.  Thus, when I got the chance to read Blood of Dawn by Tami Dane, I jumped on it.  I’ve really enjoyed the PBAU series to date and once again Dane brought on some fun mysteries that our FBI intern, Sloan, must help try and solve.

 Being a skeptic is somehow making Sloan Skye one of the best profilers in the FBI’s new Paranormal Behavioural Analysis Unit. True, her so-called love life isn’t any less tangled, but she’s beginning to believe she’s found a place where her uber-geek smarts and her more out-there methods fit perfectly. Unfortunately, all the incredible things she’s seen can’t prepare Sloan for the ultimate horror show …returning to her old high school. Someone – or some thing – is draining blood out of local teenage girls while they sleep. And the only way Sloan can solve the case is to push past her training and surrender to powers beyond her formidable logic to root out one very elusive killer…

There is a lot going on in Blood of Dawn, which means things move along pretty quickly. In fact, I finished it in one evening.  On one hand, Sloan is chasing after a killer, putting herself up as bait.  On the other, she’s trying to figure out her love life.  In addition to this, there are a couple of strange (well IMO, strange) things happening, however these things really don’t get much page time. As such, Sloan kind of blows them off.  It actually irritated me, which is why I mention it.  These 2 incidents seem to happen for some sort of reason, yet they don’t seem to affect the plot; at least for Blood of Dawn.  I kind of wonder if it is some foreshadowing for book 4 because Sloan just kind of shrugs her shoulders and moves along, focusing on the killer and her love life.  I don’t like having what seems to be an important subplot point thrown at me and then have it tossed aside.  These incidents seem too pointed and focused on Sloan. I get why she shrugged them off, but she doesn’t seem the type to not catch the “coincidences”.  I guess I’d be more OK if her reaction was a bit more “well this is odd, but I need to focus on catching this serial killer, but I need to remember to investigate this further”.

One thing I did like, was how Sloan does make mistakes.  She has gut reactions to a creepy guy causing her problems.  She’s still just an intern with the FBI and still very young.  It does get her boss into a bit of trouble, but it should have been expected.  It shows that even though she’s a brainiac and extremely dedicated, she’s fallible.  She goes with her emotions and reacts like a young woman would.  I like that.

I still think the whole series is a fun read. Blood of Dawn  continues with a “Criminal Minds” type theme, a behavioral analysis FBI unit profiling unsubs.  I enjoyed the show (back when I watched more TV) and think it’s a fresh take on UF.  It combines one of my former favorite genres (pre-law school I read John Grisham and Jonathan Kellerman…but had to switch after school) with a new favorite genre.  Take note, you could read Blood of Dawn as a standalone, as the plot isn’t dependent on the prior 2 books, but you’d have missed out on a lot of the character and interrelationship building that takes place in the prior books.  If you like mysteries and UF, I highly recommend Blood of Dawn and the Sloan Skye series as a whole.

Read Order:
Blood of Eden
Blood of Innocence
Blood of Dawn

About Nicole 146 Articles
Attorney by day, Publicist for Barclay Publicity and reviewer/LE (assistant) editor by night. I'm a huge book nerd and love to read. I have 2 dogs, both Labrador retriever mixed breeds, who are very rotten and think they run the house. Let's not lie, they totally do, I just can't them know it ha ha! My usual genre is romance or urban fantasy. I love all things having to do with paranormal, with the occasional good contemp/BDSM/erotica thrown in to spice it all up.