ARC Review: Pack of Lies by Charlie Adhara (Monster Hunt #1)

 Pack of Lies by Charlie Adhara

Expected Publication Date: August 30, 2022 

ARC Difficulty: 

We received ARC copies of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are our own.

 

Erratic's review: 5 stars

Pack of Lies hit every beat of mystery storytelling I expect from Charlie Adhara through the new character of Julien, an actor being thrown into the world of wolves, and Eli, a wolf from Adhara's previous series who has a dark past and special wolf shifting abilities. The use of dual point of view made the book even better as we finally got to see the wolf side. Don't get me wrong, I usually love a single point of view but since everyone was lying all the time having an understanding of both characters strengthened the narrative.

The setting of Maudit Falls, North Carolina gave me deja vu while reading because it brought me right back to the setting in Wolf in Sheep's Clothing and into this world of wolves. The struggling ski lodge with the small group of side characters made for an excellent backdrop to the mystery (a classic whodunit Clue setting, really). The layering of lies from the characters, the bodies showing up everywhere, and the twists and turns and reveals! I saw absolutely nothing coming (not that I ever do - I am not a very good detective).

The romance was the cherry on top of the bloody mystery sundae of this book with both characters struggling with trust and intimacy in different ways. They both have so much hope but rock bottom expectations and seeing them finally come together at the end made me very excited for the future books in this series. I want to see Julien and Eli grow together as characters and open up to each other so much! And Julien being an older main character discovering the queer life without struggling with his sexuality? Perfect.

A solid romance, a twisty fun mystery, and a set up for future books in the series? Yes, please.

 

the kevin's review: 4 stars

A fun start to a new spin-off series! The crime plot was twisty and I got pretty lost, but it tied together in the end. The callbacks to book 4 of the original series were fun as well! 

I liked getting to see more of the elusive Eli finally - he was always so intriguing in the original series. 

Julien was a nice …other main character. Honestly, he felt a little flat in comparison, but I think he’s got the groundwork set to get more depth. 

The hopeful note this book ends on with their budding connection is very sweet. Both of them have baggage - especially Eli - and this ends feeling like they’ve got great potential for the next book. 

 My main criticisms: 

• This started pretty slowly, but once it got going it was great. 

• The beginning was pretty heavy on the infodumping. I assume it was to catch everyone up on the relevant things, but it was a pretty dense section. 

• Too many secondary characters introduced too fast. I’m pretty bad at characters, so when they all come in en masse it causes problems for me to sort them out. 

Overall, I enjoyed this a lot. It’s another winner in the Big Bad Wolf world, and I’m interested to see where Eli and Julien go next.

 

Ellie's review: 5 stars

Big Bad Wolf is one of my favorite series ever and I feel like I've been waiting forever for this spin-off, which means I had high expectations. Charlie Adhara's ability to develop an intriguing mystery plot while keeping the focus on her flawed but loveable characters shines through in Pack of Lies, and I feel like most fans of the original series will also love this book.

Pack of Lies is the first book in this series that features Eli, Oliver's werewolf ex from the first series. I already loved Eli and felt very protective of him. He's someone who never fitted in anywhere because his special werewolf abilities make him a target. He hides his dark past and his loneliness behind a carefree attitude and lots of amusing one-liners. I was scared that Eli's love interest would be no match for him, and I was a little doubtful of Julien at first, as he seemed similar to every other "uptight guy on a mission" type. I'm glad Charlie Adhara went with a double POV (in opposition to the single POV in the previous series), so we could understand Julien better. I ended up liking him a lot. I loved how easily flustered he was when Eli was simply flirting, even though he was the one in control during the sex scenes (the praise alone...). Their chemistry was amazing, their flirting was so fun and the banter was top-notch. Both of them are honest with each other about how they shouldn't be trusted, but they still went ahead and trusted each other.

I really liked how this book balanced the mystery and the romance once the story hit its stride, but the first part of the book drags a little, as a lot of things are being set up and all the side characters are being introduced. Once that's out of the way though, the story captivated me until the end. Like Big Bad Wolf, at the end of this first book, the couple is not solid yet. What we are getting is really the beginning of their story, but we get a solid foundation and lots of romantic and sexy moments still.