SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST TWO BOOKS IN THE SERIES!
Anna has felt Charles drifting away from her recently. She knows what's causing it, but even confronting the wolf responsible, her own father-in-law & leader of the North American werewolves, hasn't eased his burden. Since revealing their existence to the human population, the werewolves have been extra diligent in their justice system. Charles, as his father's enforcer, is the one doling out the punishments. He has taken on an extra large burden & it is wearing on him.
As a kind of relief from the strain, Charles & Anna are sent to Boston to help the FBI in a local serial killer case. Since Anna's Omega tendencies are to calm & protect those of her kind, this seems like a perfect opportunity to work on Charles. Little did they expect that they would be of irreplaceable value to the FBI because the killer is methodical & exacting. Soon enough Anna & Charles start to piece things together, all the while fighting his personal demons. Too bad they didn't see the real demon aiming right for them.
Fair Game picks up not long after Hunting Ground leaves off. We come back to a world where werewolves are now known to exist by the general population and as a result, Bran (the Marrok) has had to be less lenient in the enforcement of their laws. In doing so, he has put undue strain on his son Charles. As his father's enforcer, Charles has had to be the one to dole out his father's punishments. These sentencings are wearing him down & eating away at him. He's starting to lose himself to his wolf because it's the only way they will survive. Not even his lovely Omega wife Anna can really bring him around. He's distanced himself from her as much as possible so that he does not burden her with his pain.
Briggs has continued her amazing storytelling with the third installment in this series. Every book has allowed us to get to know the werewolf couple better & better while they are still discovering themselves and this one is no different. A lot of times characters will grow & develop in books, but to continue to allow your characters to change throughout a series is what makes it worth reading. Anna & Charles has a complicated, multiple layer situation that requires a delicate but deft hand at crafting.
On top of having to make the characters believable, the author also makes sure you feel the places you are in her books. I sometimes swear I can smell the forests or water where they go & there is not better feeling than to be so totally engrossed in a book. While I did find the book to rehash things a bit frequently (as if the reader might have forgotten something) you still weren't beaten over the head with it.
The best part of the whole book was the ending. I absolutely cannot tell you anything about it, but suffice it to say that I did not see that coming at all. You'll just have to read it to find out what will forever change the Mercy Thompson world as we know it. :)
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