More urban fantasy, this time with heavy police procedural.

I enjoyed Unshapely Things but found it to be of uneven quality.

Now before anyone accuses me of not liking the book because of its lack of romance, let me say in my defense that the relationship between the main character, a druid whose powers are stifled in an encounter before the book begins, and another powerful female druid, plus his relationship with his cop buddy, totally make up for the lack of romance. What I like about romance is the focus on relationships between the characters, and the yearning for connection.

We get the yearning for connection in this book, in many forms.

What I found to be uneven was the pacing and the reveal of the main character. The pacing is fairly slow, fairly person to person and world building related in the beginning, with a zippy crescendo of action at the end.

I didn't feel that the beginning adequately set up how the character saves the day at the end, mysterious gargoyle pronouncements notwithstanding.

And I didn't really connect to the main character until about half way through the book, then his personal problems about how he used to badly treat people and wants to do better now played on my sympathy.

Anyway, guardedly recommended.