Book Review: Wildest Hunger by Laura Laakso 

Crime novels.  Everyone is either writing them, or reading them.  Personally, in this age of constant content I'm addicted to the idea of a morally-conflicted individual, dressed in charity shop donations entertaining me on Sunday night TV.   

Yannia Wilde is your atypical, defective detective.  She has an on/off boyfriend, a fixer and a snout. She has a contact in the police, but her methods are regarded as both eldritch and unconventional.   Her cases are gory, steeped in sex, mystery and murder.   

So far, so-so.  Now, let’s flip the script. Wildest Hunger is set in a world where supernatural beings co-exist uneasily with humans.  Wilde is one such, her beloved Dearon is another.  Her fixer is Karrion, a bird shaman.  Her snout runs a magical shop.  This is Wilde's third case and a series of dismembered bodies lead to a conspiracy at the dark hearth of the magical world.   

Wildest Hunger will tick a lot of boxes for crime fans.  It's also got enough sleaze and gore to satisfy Scandi crime fans.  Wilde is certainly as dysfunctional and damaged as let's say, Rebus or Holy.  What raises it, is the purely realised and well thought-out magical world.  There is a bare minimum of my own personal hate: info dumping.  That is real skill, even when reading the third book in a series out of sequence.  

There are also sudden and thrilling shifts, particularly when Wilde can "borrow" the abilities of animals.  There is a thrilling and gory dénouement between Wilde and the killer. There's also dashes of dark humour - Karrion loves a fried breakfast, but don't give him eggs.    

It's an involving read and enough to sink you fangs into, even if you haven't read the other two books and the novella that Wilde features in. Plus, the novel finishes on a blue note tha will lead into the next one.     

What is surprising is that Laakso has created a magical world that is acceptant of sub-culture, diversity and difference.  In a world where fantasy can be... shall we say, divisive - Laakso has created a fictional world where everyone belongs.  As society grows ever darker, it's a mystery why some magical kingdoms (both spiritual and temporal) seem less diverse than others.  Wildest Hunger is a thrilling, magical ride.