Written in Red by Anne Bishop

"No one creates realms like New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop. Now in a thrilling new fantasy series, enter a world inhabited by the Others, unearthly entities—vampires and shape-shifters among them—who rule the Earth and whose prey are humans.

As a cassandra sangue, or blood prophet, Meg Corbyn can see the future when her skin is cut—a gift that feels more like a curse. Meg’s Controller keeps her enslaved so he can have full access to her visions. But when she escapes, the only safe place Meg can hide is at the Lakeside Courtyard—a business district operated by the Others.

Shape-shifter Simon Wolfgard is reluctant to hire the stranger who inquires about the Human Liaison job. First, he senses she’s keeping a secret, and second, she doesn’t smell like human prey. Yet a stronger instinct propels him to give Meg the job. And when he learns the truth about Meg and that she’s wanted by the government, he’ll have to decide if she’s worth the fight between humans and the Others that will surely follow." (Description from Goodreads.com)

Anne Bishop takes the paranormal as we know it and turns it on it's head. Werewolves, vampires, fairies, shape shifters and a blood profit that are all re-imagined. Instead of the caring and loving wolves from Bitten or New Moon, you have shape shifters (AKA the Others) that rule the land. Who might only take up small spaces but ultimately control everything. At first, it took a few chapters to get into and understand this whole knew world. And honestly, after reading one human's POV on the Others, I kept thinking "who would mess with these guys?"

The story is told from multiple POVs with many story ARCs happening. One of the cop moving to town and being the liaison between the Others and people was a great ARC in the study of human condition. Here he clearly understands that the Others control everything and wants to make his presence know as a positive and not negative one that could lead to his own death. 

What I love even more is that the two main characters didn't fall in love on page 20. I feel there might be something in future book but this focused on the relationships that were being built and the problems/mystery at hand. This is a book that kept me up all night for a few nights in a row. It also kept me guessing on what was going to happen. I also loved that a mystery was presented to the Others leader and by the end I feel he might has a solid lead on what's happening. Most books would have dragged out the mystery but this book didn't. I can't wait to see what happens next!

Written in Red is the first of a series of the Others. The next book Murder of Crows is due out March 4th. I can't wait to get my copy from the local library. However, I might have to buy it just to read the followup. It was that good that I just can't wait to read the next book. If you like fantasy fiction with a good solid mystery then you should this one a try!