Alma Boykin wins the 2019 “Best Use of a Knock-Knock Joke in Urban Fantasy” award with Eerily Familiar.

Something hunts the hunters . . .

Something waits in the shadows, watching. Lelia Chan and her Familiar, Tay, hear vague rumors of trouble among the shadow mages. Everyone’s heard rumors before, and keeping her boss happy is more important. Then a painting tries to capture her friend. When her mentor and good friend André and his Familiar Rodney both go missing, Lelia has to take charge.

She’s not ready. No shadow mage ever is. But she’ll find a way or die trying.

Things worse than than death hide in the shadows. And they LIKE meeting over-confident young mages

After setting the table over the course of her last two or three books in the series, Alma Boykin serves the main course in Eerily Familiar.  We swing back to concentrate on Lilia Chan and her Familiar, Tay in this one, but all of the other main characters in the series make an appearance.

Even as Ms. Boykin continues her exquisite development of Lilia, we also get to know other characters, such as her boss Arthur and Andre the shadow mage, better.  I think that the depth of Boykin’s characters, regardless of which of her books you’re reading, are my favorite part of her writing.

The plot has a delicious tension running through it from cover to cover.  Eerily Familiar isn’t a thriller, but keeps a steady pace that is easy to slip into.    I read it in one sitting, but it could also very easily be broken up into several quiet evenings.

I’m definitely looking forward to seeing where this series goes.  Several plot lines point toward further adventures in the series.  If you’ve enjoyed the series so far, you’ll enjoy Eerily Familiar.