Bloodhound

Tamora Pierce (author)

Scholastic Australia, 2009: 546pp

Genres: adventure, crime, fantasy

Issues: crime, friendship, gifted, loyalty, social condition

The second book in the Beka Cooper series, Bloodhound is an absorbing adventure that explores the effect of counterfeiting on money systems in early history.

Beka Cooper, having survived her Puppy year in the Provost's Guard (early police force) of Corus, is having trouble finding a Dog partner who can keep up with her. As a child growing up in the Provost's house, fostered there after she helped track and catch a major Rat (criminal), Beka developed a passion for justice. She has no patience with lazy guards who choose to turn a blind eye to crime if it will lead them into danger - which is why there are so few keen to work with her. Her immortal cat, Pounce - a constellation who has taken mortal form for his own purposes - assures her this will not always be the case. He leads her to a ‘scent hound', Achoo - not exactly the kind of partner she was expecting.

Incidences of counterfeit money in Corus lead Beka and her former trainer, Corporal Goodwin, to the coast city of Port Caynn. Ordered there by the Provost, Cooper and Goodwin must track the criminals who are destroying the stability of the money stream with false silver coins (coles). Corruption is rife, from petty criminals to the noblest of the city; those who should protect the people are controlled by threats and bribes. Two honest Dogs such as Cooper and Goodwin threaten this arrangement and soon find that their investigations may cost them their lives.

Fantasy writers often make the mistake of allowing their characters to rely too heavily on their magical gifts or friends - Pierce avoids this by forcing Beka onto her own resources as first Pounce then Goodwin leave her to own devices in Port Cayn. This allows Beka's considerable talents to shine, as well as forging a closer relationship with her ‘scent hound', refining her investigative abilities and helping her find ways to cope with her crippling shyness.

One of Tamora Pierce's greatest skills as a writer is that she has an astonishing capacity to take the driest of subjects - in this case counterfeiting - and bring it to life in a way that has the reader rushing through the pages, driven by a desperate need to find out ‘what happens next'. Pierce's ‘sheroes' are invariably strong-willed, intelligent, compassionate women who seek to improve the world in which they live and Beka is no exception. A tightly woven narrative peopled with complex and subtle characters, Bloodhound is an excellent read.

Highly recommended.