Silver

April 2, 2012
In a world where werewolf pack territory squabbles hide a much bigger threat, Andrew Dare is the enforcer for the Roanoke pack, which covers the entire east coast of the United States. When he tracks down a trespasser in Roanoke territory, he finds Silver, a beautiful woman suffering from silver poisoning and assorted delusions. In his efforts to discover Silver’s true identity and pack of origin, Andrew stumbles across a deadly mystery that threatens every werewolf in the country. Now, far from home, he has to play a perilous game of pack politics, recruiting unlikely allies in order to combat the killer who drove Silver insane and murdered her family. Meanwhile, as Andrew spends time with Silver, he grows to understand and care for her. Despite a few interesting twists, smooth writing, and genuine chemistry between the leads, there’s little to make this story stand out. Agent: Cameron McClure, Donald Maass Literary Agency.

April 15, 2012
Werewolves are threatened by a mysterious antagonist in Held's fantasy debut. The Roanoke pack occupies most of the east coast of the U.S. Rory is the alpha, and Andrew Dare his enforcer, responsible for security. Now Andrew's tracking a lone Were who persists in retaining her human form; inexplicably, she doesn't seem capable of shifting to wolf. When he catches her, the puzzles multiply. She calls herself Silver: she's been tortured and injected with silver and her wolf self is suppressed or lost. And quite possibly she's insane, claiming to be able to see a Were's wolf shape while they're in human form and holding long conversations with Death as if he were sitting nearby. Rory wants nothing to do with her and orders Andrew to find her home pack and return her. Wracked with guilt over the actions he was forced to take while in Spain--Spanish packs sometimes use silver against each other--Andrew complies. Maneuvering carefully to avoid offending the West Coast alphas, Andrew finally tracks Silver's origins to an offshoot pack, all of whom were slaughtered by a powerful antagonist. Unfortunately, Seattle's alpha, John, won't give Andrew the help he needs, and Andrew's forced to challenge John and assume control. The plot itself doesn't amount to much and neither does the existential threat. What's of far more interest are the developing characters and their interactions, individual to individual and pack to pack, the position of female pack members and the way the packs operate. Held carefully works out the details, and although it's all a little too civilized to be fully convincing, there are signs that the series will gain some real heft as her confidence grows. Certainly worth a try for existing lycanthrophiles.

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Starred review from June 15, 2012

Andrew Dare's job as the enforcer for the Roanoke pack of werewolves requires him to work solo. But when a strange and disturbing scent leads him to rogue werewolf, a female called Silver, he ends up joining forces with her. She suffers from a persistent madness and has lost the ability to shift from her human form as a result of torture. Dare and Silver set out across the country in search of a killer who poses a threat to every werewolf on the continent. Held's urban fantasy debut presents a different view of werewolves that takes into account not only their dual nature but their struggle to exist within a world that does not understand the closeness and loyalty of a pack. VERDICT Held's characters are believable, and her compelling story begs for further development in future novels.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2012
Held's impressive debut, a combination of mystery and urban fantasy, delves deeply into werewolf society (there is only one human character), exploring a culture parallel to and yet hidden from ours. Andrew Dare, enforcer for the Roanoke pack, the largest in North America, has been a loner in werewolf society ever since his wife died, and he fled his native Spain (after exacting his revenge). So when he is tracking a lone werewolf who smells of silver, he is reminded of the European packs who are known to use silver in punishment rituals. But the woman he eventually tracks down isn't European, though it's hard to tell, given her hysterical ravings about the Were gods, Death and the Lady. Silver, as she insists on being called, doesn't seem to remember who she is or why she was injected with silver, and Dare takes it on himself to help her discover her past and her attacker, no matter how much he has to disrupt pack hierarchy to do so. The combination of engaging characters and a well-developed world will leave readers anxiously awaiting the next installment. A must-read for fans of Kelley Armstrong's Bitten (2001), another compelling werewolf story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)