Tricked

Hammered by Kevin Hearne
The Iron Druid Chronicles, #3

Druid Atticus O’Sullivan hasn’t stayed alive for more than two millennia without a fair bit of Celtic cunning. So when vengeful thunder gods come Norse by Southwest looking for payback, Atticus, with a little help from the Navajo trickster god Coyote, lets them think that they’ve chopped up his body in the Arizona desert.

But the mischievous Coyote is not above a little sleight of paw, and Atticus soon finds that he’s been duped into battling bloodthirsty desert shapeshifters called skinwalkers. Just when the Druid thinks he’s got a handle on all the duplicity, betrayal comes from an unlikely source. If Atticus survives this time, he vows he won’t be fooled again.

Famous last words.

--Hammered
by Kevin Hearne
Copyright © 2012 by Kevin Hearne
Published by Del Rey


My Review

With the aide of Coyote, Atticus O’Sullivan “dies” in the desert and Reilly Collins is born. Along with his sister, “Caitlin,” Atticus and Granuaile travel into the Navajo territory to pay Coyote back for his death-defying act. Coyote’s come up with a way to make the Navajo more self-sufficient, but he needs Atticus’ help. Coyote dies for Atticus, Atticus helps the Navajo. It’s a win-win situation.

Lief Helgarson, Atticus’ vampire lawyer, survived his trip to Asgard…barely. While he was gone and while he healed, another vampire managed to take over his territory (which, by the way, was the entire state of Arizona). Now that he’s back, he wants Atticus’ help in getting rid of his rivals. Atticus isn’t interested. He has no desire to meddle in the affairs of vampires and tells Lief so. Lief accepts this and leaves, but Atticus is wary of his former friend’s motives, and as it turns out, he has every right to be wary. Lief has a plan, you see, one that almost gets both Atticus and Oberon killed. That pretty much severs any friendly ties the Celtic Druid had with the vampire. After depositing Oberon at a veterinarian’s office to heal, Atticus and Granuaile return to the Navajo territory to finish off his commitment to Coyote.

There’s a little something Coyote failed to mention to Atticus and Granuaile. There’s a pair of skinwalkers determined to stop the Navajo from achieving their plans, and these guys play rough. Atticus has never come across skinwalkers before and isn’t sure how to handle them. But since his and Granuaile’s survival depends on it, he’ll think of something. He has to. Oberon is waiting for his chicken apple sausages!


I hate to write reviews where all I can think to say is “Awesome story! Can’t wait for the next one! Everyone needs to read this story!” But considering I read all four of these stories back to back to back to back, there’s little more that I can say. Kevin Hearne is a great writer with a fantastic sense of humor, and with Luke Daniels narrating the audio book, the experience is unbelievable. Hearne plans this to be a six-book series, with number five coming out at the end of November. I will be very, very sad to see the end of this series, but will look forward to any new offerings by Kevin Hearne.

I give this story FIVE STARS.