All right, I admit it...I am a sucker for a good detective story. And I love detective stories set in fantasy or science fiction settings. Larry Niven's classic Gil Hamilton stories and the Lije Baley stories by Asimov are some of my favourites. Denise Vitola's Quantum Moon is not your typical detective story; the heroine of this tale is a werewolf, and she lives in a futuristic society that makes William Gibson's societies seem calm and somewhat light in tone.
So, where to start on this one? Well, the plot of the book is the most interesting aspect of the novel in some ways, since Denise Vitola has brought together a world that is at times cyberpunkish, and at other times very film noir in feel. Quantum Moon is very strong in feel of the world, and the author does a wonderful job of presenting the world of Ty Merrick to us in exquisite detail, sometimes too much detail for a book this size. Vitola's writing is sharp, crisp, and filled with a wit and strength that doesn't fit the characters found therein at times, but this is something that I found easy to ignore, since the story is lovely and catches the reader up in it right from the word "go!" While Ty Merrick, the heroine (and I use the term loosely) of the piece, is the strongest character in the book - as should be the case - the supporting cast around her is interesting, well-rounded, and hold some surprises (both good and bad) for the reader.
This book is a novel of political intrigue, not to mention ecological in orientation, but has a strong detective mystery feel to it. What brings the book that special edge is the fact that Ty Merrick, the detective werewolf, has to deal with her own...unique problems throughout the course of the book while solving the murder she's working on. There are some nasty moments in this book, make no mistake, but Vitola has a writing style that make you want more, and the novel concludes with some answers that satisfy the mystery lover in me, but not the guy wanting to see more of Ty Merrick in the future.