Moonshine is a return to the world of Cal Leandros, half human, half monster. I absolutely loved the first novel in the series, and this second novel was no different. Familiar characters are back, Cal, his brother Niko, Robin Goodfellow and Promise, amongst others. The threat of the Auphe was vanquished in the first novel, and now Cal and Niko have a chance to relax and enjoy life not on the run. They have teamed up with Promise to open their own agency performing jobs for the supernatural community. Life should be good. But all too soon a simple job becomes overly complicated, and people Cal cares about are being kidnapped and held at ransom. And just as things appear to be falling into place an old enemy has returned, proving that life can never be simple for Cal.
Cal's trademark pessimism is back and keeps the reader entertained throughtout his narration. Characterisation is excellent throughout this series, and I like the hints we get at both Goodfellow and Promises pasts. I am a big fan of the way the author teases us with little snippets of information as to what makes these characters tick, and the promise of much more to come. This time we get to see a much seedier side of the supernatural world than the first time. We were introduced to the kin in the previous novel, more or less a werewolf mafia, but this time Cal is going undercover amongst them. I like the fact that this series isn't afraid to get its hands dirty.
At times I felt certain scenes were ommited, most notably with the time Cal was undercover. We kept skipping to the important scences, and could maybe have done with a little bit more filling in between. However the length of time he was undercover for it could have filled the whole novel up covering that section alone, and there's still a lot more novel to come after that section. It doesn't detract too much from the overall enjoyment, and won't stop me giving this five stars.
One warning I feel I should add, this novel ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. The story itself is nicely wrapped up, however a relationship between two of the major characters reaches an important point, which both this novel and the previous one has been building to, and you are left desperately craving the answers to what is going on. The solution? Go out and buy the next book. None of the books in the Cal Leandros series are overly long, and sometimes it feels a bit like an episode of a TV show, which in itself is no bad thing. So go on, give it a try, the first seven books are currently available so there's nothing stopping you powering through them all.
