A college student, a high-school misfit, and a grandfather with strange tales to tell form one half of Conjesero’s tapestry. Meanwhile San Francisco homicide detective Kevin Russel and colleague Rita Tedesco, plus wounded friend and a beautiful romantic lead, follow a parallel tale. But it all comes together halfway through Carl Alves’ novel, with instant celebrity Kevin tackling images of werewolves, contemplating love, and insisting against all odds that he must protect and serve. The race is on to ensure the conviction of a murderer and find the serial killer of unconnected strangers. At which point the story gathers serious momentum via interesting tidbits of criminal psychology, and fascinating mythology of the supernatural. By the end of the book, all these characters seem real, their challenges absorbing, and their road to recovery pleasingly laid-out.

Conjesero starts with a bang, slows down, then speeds to a frantic conclusion. The final action scenes feel perfectly plotted for a movie, and there’s a nice complexity to questions of whether breaking rules and allying with evil might be allowed in the cause of destroying a greater evil. In the end it’s not what’s seen that matters, but what lies underneath, both in relationships and in criminal investigation—a wise and nicely nuanced conclusion to a cross-genre novel with romance, action, suspense, police procedures, monsters and more.

Disclosure: I was given a copy and I voluntarily offer my honest review. ( )