Rating: 4.5🌈
Stitched Under Fire takes place relatively close to the ending timeline of the first book, Faeted Under Fire. That’s where the formerly human Det. Tristan James died, becoming reborn as a phoenix shifter and federal agent in the Paranormal Investigative Service, aka P.I.S. Yes, the series has a sense of humor.
He also gained a new perspective on paranormal beings he’d been phobic about, gained a partner and boyfriend in fellow Agent Maddox Smith, half orc/half Fae.
We dive back into their world where Tris has become acclimated enough to consider his new Agent Pod/group friends and he’s moved into a house with Maddox, getting ready to met the parents.
The authors do such a great job in creating the paranormal experience for Tristan James. He’s new to everything so we get to see and learn about it along with him. Honestly, the human side pales a bit by comparison.
Tristan is thriving even if he’s at level one with regard to his shifter abilities and new identity as a phoenix shifter. The fact that phoenix shifters are rare means that even his own teammates and boyfriend aren’t exactly positive about what Tristan can do , other than the vaguest ideas.
O’Conner and Lyn are on a slow path here with Tristan’s shifter transition. I’m not sure how many books they have planned for the series, but at this point, for Tristan to gain full access to his phoenix abilities, it will be at book 10. But oddly, the cases become so big and the victims so important, that Tristan’s shifter journey can safely be relegated to a lower storyline status without hurting the character or the book.
It becomes all about the characters, the relationships, the realness of their lives and the pain of their loss. That’s what we feel as does those investigating the cases.
The side storyline about , Tallie,the young teenage prostitute who’s basically family, Maddox’s mom, and Silas, the Fae father , is heartwarming and a wonderful element that helps ground Tristan in this new world and relationship.
This book and series is one I’m enjoying so much for its well developed characters, well plotted storylines, rich world building, and expanding new information into the exploration between human and paranormal phenomena and physicality.
Bring on book 3. I’m highly recommending this and the series. Read them in the order they are written to understand the events and character development.
Paranormal Investigative Service series:
✓ Faeted Under Fire #1
✓ Stitched Under Fire #2
◦ Taken Under Fire #3 – June 8, 2023
Buy Link:
Stitched Under Fire (Paranormal Investigative Service Book 2)
Description:
Paranormals left for dead, parts of them missing. When bodies start piling up, the agents of Paranormal Investigative Service quickly realize the killings aren’t random and they are escalating.
Life is never dull as an agent of P.I.S. but Tristan James didn’t expect his fourth week as a newly turned phoenix shifter and federal agent to be spent hunting for the person who was dissecting paranormals. If that weren’t enough, he was also moving in with Maddox, his partner at P.I.S. and he had it bad for him.
Maddox Smith was going monogamous. If that weren’t shocking enough, Tristan was also moving in with him. Add to that the man of his dreams was still getting used to being a shifter and getting over old prejudices about their kind. Taking it slow was never in Maddox’s vocabulary before, but Tristan was worth the wait. A new case was exactly the distraction he needed.
They have to work quickly to stitch the pieces together if they want to stop the madman hurting their kind.
Book 3 ‘Taken Under Fire’ releases June 8th, 2023 and continues Maddox and Tristan’s story.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 