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Dire Straits

Bo Blackman, Book 1

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Dire Straits

By: Helen Harper
Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
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About this listen

Bo Blackman is a rookie private investigator working for the London based firm of Dire Straits. She doesn't often get triber-based assignments, which is just as well. Vampires and daemons don't interest her as much as humans do. However, when she has to serve a summons on a dodgy daemon called Devlin O'Shea and she ends up saving his life instead of being framed for his murder, her life takes a shocking turn for the worse. And when the vampire Families start involving themselves too, Bo no longer knows where to turn.

©2014 Helen Harper (P)2014 Tantor Fantasy Fiction Paranormal Vampire City

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All stars
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I really enjoyed this story lots of twists and turns. The narration is excellent. Some very interesting characters. Bo in particular is well thought out and I am looking forward to hearing her future adventures. I have already purchased the next one.

Good variation of the vampire legend.

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thought it was going to be yet another boring woman investigator who wiles her way to the answer, pleasantly surprised shes a kickass typical woman, who says it as it is.
thank you for a wonderful listen !

love it, new favourite!!

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narrator was good. story was good enough that I'll be buying the next book to see what happens next.

worth it.

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Bo Blackman isn’t going to win a ‘Detective of the Year’ contest, but she stumbles upon a case that has to be solved because her life depends on it. Bo is likeable, and I was happy to follow her through her adventure, sometimes cringing at her detective skills, but regardless it was a good read. It gave an interesting spin on the vampire world, and didn’t go overboard on emotions or romance. I shall look forward to reading the next instalment.

An easy read/listen

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Poor character development. A kick ass PI who isn’t kick ass. I was expecting the FMC to actually solve things however she was constantly behind the curve.

Frustrating plot.

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I found this quite interesting as the vampires were unlike many I have read / listened to before, they are surprisingly British which I find refreshing if not somewhat amusing. As a Brit I find the aristocratic British way in which they speak amusing but to a certain degree accurate.
The story is engulfing and intriguing and will have you shouting internally at the main character and several others in particular her grandfather and his secret agent and his lordship who get so entangled with Bo to an almost bi-polar level.
I don't think I am doing the book justice to be honest but it is so unusual and different from so many others that it is a MUST READ/ LISTEN for all those who love vampires, magic, detectives and soooooo much more!

Vampires, Magic, Demons and Bo!

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A nice intro to the world/series, if a little predictable treading some well worn paths.

pretty good

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I am about to physically read this book as I think the wrong narrator was chosen to read it. Saskia Maarveld has a light voice and speaks BBC english. I think someone with a deeper toned voice would have match the story better. I might edit the review if I don't like the story when I have read it.

Didn't engage with me

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Set in an alternative contemporary London where Tribers (Demons, Witches and Vampires) have been an accepted part of society for centuries, “Dire Straits” tells the story of Bo Blackman, a bottom-rung-of-the-ladder investigator at the Dire Straits detective agency, who is set up for a murder charge when she attempts to serve a summons on a demon.

“Dire Straits” is excellent Urban Fantasy by any standard: it gives a new and convincing take on Vampires, Witches and Demons; it has a complicated, well thought through plot that kept me hungry to know what would happen next while feeding me action, tension, and emotional upheaval along the way and the main character is engaging as much for her flaws as for her strengths.

My enjoyment of all these attributes was greatly increased by the fact that the book is set in London, which means that, as a Brit, I can clearly see where fantasy has been skillfully grafted on to reality. Most of the Urban Fantasy I read is set in the US. I’ve traveled and worked there enough to be able to recognize Butcher’s Chicago or Andrew’s Atlanta but I know that there are many cultural nuances that I miss. With “Dire Straits”, it’s as if I’m moved to the 3D, HD, Surround Sound version of Urban Fantasy. These are people I recognise, even if they are Vampires or Demons.

“Dire Straits” has a very English tone, with different attitudes to conflict (at least in public), strong links to class-based elites, a very different, non-gun-carrying kind of police force, and neat twists that apply British attitudes to race and immigration to Tribers, even quoting Enoch Powell’s “Rivers of Blood” speech. London provides an atmospheric backdrop for the action, including mansions that Vampires have owned for centuries and a very dramatic scene set inside Big Ben. British humour and wordplay makes the dialogue richer and British swearing takes it well outside the US romance writers’ guidelines. Still, Josh Whedon was able to slip words like “Bugger” and “Sod off” into “Buffy” scripts because the American censors didn’t understand them. I wonder what they’d make of the recurring use of “Smegging Hell” here? They’d probably object to the “Hell” part.

The Vampires and Witches in the book are very English. The Vampires put on a front of being upper class Eton and Oxford types who would regard it as bad form to lose control in public. Quite different from the almost-Mafia image Vampires are often given. The Witches come across as eccentric Glastonbury Festival meets Alternative Intellectual types.

Part of the plot is set in what, in American Urban Fantasy, might be a Vampire Academy, except that the main character is desperate NOT to become a Vampire, the Vampire tutors inflict death-by-PowerPoint in nightly training sessions and the “students” range from upper class privileged types through to total Chavs.

In England, names mean a lot. When J.K. Rowling names a character Dolores Umbridge we all know what to expect: someone who spreads sadness and takes offense easily. Helen Harper chooses her names with care but one of them made me stumble. A lawyer in the story is called Harry D’Agneau (pardon me if the spelling is wrong – I listened to the audiobook). I think the name is meant to make him exotic, posh but something of an outsider, perhaps like Michael Portillo. The problem is that the name translates literally to Harry of Lamb. I kept thinking of him as Larry the Lamb. Not at all the image that was intended.

I was disappointed in Tantor Press’ choice of narrator. This book cried out for an English narrator like Emma Fielding or Finty Williams, who could have extracted every ounce of class difference from the various accents. Tantor chose Saskia Maarleveld, who comes from New Zealand. She is a very good narrator but she can’t sustain the English accents over the whole book. I looked up the narrator because I couldn’t figure out why Bo Blackman’s accent ranges from “I went to a very good public school” through to “I’ve recently returned from a few years in Australia”. Saskia Maarleveld also lacks the range to differentiate the voices of the many male characters, a curious number of whom seem to be Irish or Welsh, although the text gives no indication of this. I still enjoyed listening to Saskia Maarleveld but I felt that I was missing out on the performance that could have been there.

I devoured “Dire Straits” in a couple of days. It works as a stand-alone novel with a satisfying ending. The good news is that it’s the first in a series with a set of long story arcs. So far this month I’ve read two more: “New Order” and “High Stakes” and each was better than the last. I’m now waiting for the fourth book, “Red Angel” to be released as an audiobook.

Delightfully British Urban Fantasy

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Bo Backman was a poor investigator. The fact that I suspected the main culprit way before her with exactly the same info doesn't put her so-called skills, the ones she was recruited for, in a good light. Most of the book is about Bo fumbling around, making guesses and coming to quick and wrong conclusions. It made some sense in the beginning but as the story progressed it would have been better if she was shown to have a bit more of an investigative brain, given that it was her profession. If she wasn't just always stumbling on to the clues with sheer luck, it would have made for a better story. She also seemed to have a linear approach to a lot of things while quoting at the same time that not everything is black and white.
The other characters were two dimensional and flat and you barely get to know them.
Narration was okay. I always have to listen to Saskia at a slightly faster speed for the narration to be fine.
I will listen to the next book in hopes that the story gets better.

Okay

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