Waking the Merrow

A prickly and memorable protagonist fights to protect her family from wily merfolk in this promising debut contemporary fantasy. Evie McFagan is a barely functioning alcoholic with an 18-month-old daughter and a husband who’s running out of patience. Evie’s troubles are annoyingly public in the Narragansett Bay shore town of Pawtuxet Village, R.I., but the spotlight shifts when gorgeous Nomia arrives. With Nomia comes the creepy sound of voices in Evie’s head, and a string of mysterious disappearances. Little do the villagers know that Nomia is a centuries-old merrow who’s able to change into human form, and the leader of a rapacious merrow clan. Evie struggles to stay sober and learn the truth about Nomia; when the merrow targets her family, Evie has to find new strength. Rigney’s protagonist is appealingly stubborn and vulnerable, but the other characters remain thinly drawn. Scenes set in the town’s colonial past tend to slow the story rather than enriching it. With the foundations laid, it will be interesting to see where Rigney takes her warring merfolk next. [em](BookLife) [/em]