Selene is an off-the-books PI who protects women in NYC. It is her sworn-duty to help those in need since she isn’t just a former police officer but also happens to be the goddess Artemis. Her powers are waning, as are the powers of most of the pantheon, but Selene pushes onward doing what she can to keep women safe. But she can’t save everyone; a woman is found murdered in Central Park. Upon further investigation into the details of the crime, Selene realizes there is a connection to her very ancient past with the help of a classics professor, Theo Shultz. Together, Selene and Shultz discover that a group of people are restarting ancient and mysterious rituals in order to bring back the gods.
Greek gods losing power in modern times in not a new idea, but I do like how Brodsky handles this story. We get frequent glimpses into Selene’s past as a fully empowered Artemis, and these glimpses serve as an excellent balance to the modernity of the story. And Brodsky has morphed the gods into characters that feel new and interesting without losing their mythology. Not only did we get Selene’s recollections of her past, but the exploration of the present human rituals for the gods added some novelty to the story. Additionally, I liked the action sequences. They are well-written and paced out nicely with the slower, more mundane parts of an investigation.
What I did not care for is the most extreme, ludicrous deus ex machina that arrives at the climax of the novel. Deus ex deus does the event more justice (if that’s a reasonable translation; I’m extrapolating here). That one moment was so groan-inducing that I nearly stopped reading the rest of the book. But if we just ignore that one portion, we have an otherwise enjoyable, certainly well researched book.
This is the first in a series, and if I can find the rest at a local library, I might give them a read later on.