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Dead Spots (2012)

by Melissa F. Olson(Favorite Author)

3.7 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1612185592 (ISBN13: 9781612185590)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

47North

series

Scarlett Bernard

review 1: The author had a great start but failed, a female who blushes like a virgin or cant even fight let alone be bullied as much as Scarlett does, is not a strong female but the exact opposite, a weak one. This series should never be on a strong female list. btw one hot guy comes along and she all of a sudden in a instant has a conscious and blush's when he looks at her? Yeah that's not believable at all, so this series is a EPIC FAIL. She is "null" so does the author make her a bad ass female that can and will kick anyone's ass that try's to hurt or bully her? Least then she wouldn't be bullied into working as clean up. In the story being a 'null' is rare, so you should have unlimited potential, yet the author sticks to clean up.... does she get paid lots of money, or get a l... moreot of respect? Nope first sign of trouble and she is threatened by the same people she has been cleaning up after for years. If the author did make her badass I might have actually liked this series. Instead I view Scarlett as the maid/servant of the 'old world' with minimum wage and no respect. They say "come" she comes with her tail between her legs and rolls on her back without even trying to defend herself. And again this plot had such potential that its a waste, but shows you what kind of author Melissa F. Olson is.
review 2: Melissa Olson has achieved something quite unique, she's added a brand new type of supernatural to the, by now normal, mix of vampires, werewolves and witches. Scarlett Bernard is a Null, she creates dead spots for magic. In her presence, vampires and werewolves become human and witches cannot cast spells.This is a truly odd, negative, super power. It doesn't turn Scarlett into an apex predator but it does give her some protection from them. She lives in a niché where she can be used by the various super natural factions to clean up messes, usually deaths, without being a threat or being threatened. She is valuable because she helps keep the "Old World's" secrets.At least, that's how we see the world at the start of the story.The plot places, Scarlett in a situation where she has a deadline to prove she had no involvement in some gruesome killings or face execution. The twists and turns of the plot are perfect for building a picture of the supernatural world while making it satisfyingly difficult to figure out who is guilty of what.I enjoyed the fact that Scarlett, because her powers are essentially negative, couldn't just use muscle or magic to solve her problems, she had to use her brains and rely on her friends. This made the whole story more engaging.Circumstances have thrown Scarlett together with a freshly promoted plain-clothes LAPD officer, Jesse Cruz. He is new to the "Old World" and becomes the device through which much of the exposition is done. He is also a very moral person (hey, if you can accept that LA has vampires, werewolves and witches, then is a moral LAPD officer such a stretch).I didn't like Scarlett very much at the start of the book. She seemed glib, superficial, numb as well as null and I didn't much care what happened to her. As the book progresses, two things change, Scarlett's back-story of trauma, guilt and exploitation is revealed and,partly in response to Jesse's reactions to the Old World and partly as she slowly realizes that she actually has some friends, Scarlett takes stock of her life and her attitudes and starts to make changes.By the end of the book, I was interested in Scarlett and the world she lives in and ready for another instalment."Dead Spots" was an entertaining read that had some problems with pace and perhaps a little too much exposition, but which appealed to me because of its flashes of originality and the intelligence and pragmatism of Scarlett Bernard. less

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