The Solstice Countdown by Lisa Shearin

Title:  The Solstice Countdown
Author:  Lisa Shearin
Series:  SPI Files #7
Release date:  March 9, 2021
Description:  As an agent of Supernatural Protection & Investigations (SPI), I know that evil doesn’t take a vacation, but this time it made an exception and followed me on mine.

I’m Makenna Fraser, seer for SPI, and I’m taking my boyfriend, goblin dark mage Rake Danescu, home for the holidays to meet my family.

Weird Sisters is a small town in the North Carolina mountains that was built on a network of ley lines that magnify psychic and paranormal energies. It doesn’t show up on Google Maps, was named after the three witches in Macbeth, and the first word of the town name perfectly describes most of its human and supernatural citizens.

A stranger has come to town, bringing with him a dormant source of primordial evil. Soon, magically gifted locals start vanishing, and the power of the ley lines is turned against us, cutting us off from the outside world and any source of help.

For a town and its people steeped in magic, and my family sworn to protect both, it’s a race against time to use a local winter solstice phenomenon to free the town from its prison. But first, I must trust a father I’ve never known to fight and defeat an awakening evil that’s existed since the beginning of time. If we fail, and it is unleashed, the world will not survive.

Nervous Nellie’s nervousness necessitates knowledge of the novel. In other words …SPOILERS. *BEWARE*

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Nervous Nellie says…

The Solstice Countdown was another hit by Lisa Shearin.  I LOVE the SPI files.  With the conclusion of this book, I really feel the need to go back and start at the beginning.  Mak (Makenna Frasier) made mention of the cases that she’s handled since she’s worked for SPI and I have to admit, my interest piqued all over again.  There were the Dragons, the gem mage, the Grendels, the hell pit under Baccanalia, the pocket dimension in Rafe’s hotel.  There was the buildings popping from one world to another, portals to here and yonder, there were the ghouls and all sorts of things I could go on and on about.  Bad nasties that Mak helped the team take care of in only the way they can.

In this book, there is no sex, though implied (only a couple times), there are only gory deaths of ghouls and no good guys were harmed in making of this movie…in your head.  An ancient Celtic god that makes a VERY interesting appearance and Mak’s family who basically run Weird Sisters, NC.

I could guess a lot of the story line which I do not have a problem with.  It makes me less nervous in the “OMG!  What’s gonna happen next” anxiety.  Rafe was his normal glorious kick ass self and MaKenna was too even though Rafe outshone her with his dark magey thing.  But then there was MaKenna’s revelation of parentage.  That was a big deal too. And then there was her and the Wild Hunt…that was pretty cool.

This wasn’t a normal SPI case.  Actually, it had no case number and involved no agents except MaKenna.  She was on vacation and was on her own as representative of SPI.  Push come to shove, I would say it really wasn’t a case at all since she wasn’t “on the clock” per se.  I’m trying to be as vague as I can in order to not give away spoilers.  Mac’s granny was awesome, as well as the rest of the fam.  It was nice to see Rafe a bit uncomfortable in the girlfriend/boyfriend interrogation that families give.  It appears he passed with flying colors and Mac got a lot of respect for her part in protecting the townspeople from certain death.

Ok, fine.  Here’s the skinny.  Mac & Rafe come to town.  They are “attacked” by a Celtic god.  They get away.  The find that a nasty shouldn’t-be-but-is-anyway-mage is trying to manipulate the First Hunter of the Wild Hunt to basically give him all the souls he’s ever collected in order to give the shyster more power to take over the world.  Mac’s family and Rafe join in and do whatever they can in order to stop the bad guy from doing what he wants.  Throw in some family history (which is VERY interesting) and some massive characters in myth and legend, and you have a mystery that leads a reader by the nose until conclusion.  Like I said before, the book made me want to go back and enjoy the prior books all over again.

Our reviews in this series…

• The Grendel Affair by Lisa Shearin
• The Dragon Conspiracy by Lisa Shearin
• The Brimstone Deception by Lisa Shearin
• The Ghoul Vendetta by Lisa Shearin
• The Myth Manifestation by Lisa Shearin
• The Phoenix Illusion by Lisa Shearin
• The Entity Game by Lisa Shearin

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