Spectacle

Vincent’s second Delilah Marlow urban fantasy (after Menagerie) is a bravura example of fantasy series-building. Delilah and her diverse cohort of cryptids—semihuman creatures of myth and legend who have been marginalized as objects of scientific study—have rid themselves of exploitative menagerie master Rudolph Metzger. They’re traveling incognito as a carnival when they are seized outside of Tucson, Ariz., by Willem Vandekamp, a cruel cryptobiologist who has perfected technology that suppresses cryptid defenses. Forced into Vandekamp’s Savage Spectacle, where they must cater to the perverse desires of his wealthy clients, Delilah and her confederates use their unique talents to escape—which, in Delilah’s case, means channeling her burgeoning powers as a furiae, a merciless corrector of injustices. As in Delilah’s first adventure, Vincent treats the plight of the cryptids with great sensitivity, providing them with complex personalities that make them seem more human than their persecutors. A late-breaking complication involving Delilah and her fear dearg protector, Gallagher, guarantees that fans of the series will eagerly anticipate its next chapter. Agent: Angharad Kowal, Writers House. (June)