Title: Banshee Cries

Author: C.E. Murphy

Series: The Walker Paper

Sexual Content: Suggested

Objectional Content: Violence

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Much of the city can’t wake up. And more are dozing off each day.

Instead of powerful forces storming Seattle,
a more insidious invasion is happening.
Most of Joanne Walker’s fellow cops are down
with the blue flu–or rather the blue sleep. Yet
there’s no physical cause anyone can point to–and it keeps spreading.

It has to be magical, Joanne figures. But what’s up with the crazy dreams that hit her
every time she closes her eyes? Are they being sent
by Coyote, her still-missing spirit guide? The messages just aren’t clear.

Somehow Joanne has to wake up her sleeping
friends while protecting those still awake,
figure out her inner-spirit dream life and, yeah,
come to terms with these other dreams she’s
having about her boss….

---

Coyote Dreams starts with Joanne Walker waking up with one hell of a hangover and one very good looking man in her bed. Naturally, this is the start of a chaotic morning for Joanne. Her friend, Billy Holliday, is in a coma, and not long after, his wife. Soon, half the police force is asleep and nothing Joanne does seems to help them.

I’m a little ashamed to say that Coyote Dreams is only the second book I’ve finished this year (and February is over tomorrow!). These last two months have not been great for me for reading. I’d gotten about half way through this book when I suddenly just stopped. Then, two nights ago, I picked it back up and wondered why I stopped reading to begin with!

Joanne has been reluctant from the start to accept her Shamanic powers and her role those powers give her in the world. She’s very good at denying her gifts and deflecting from talking about it by hiding behind sarcasm.

It’s here, in Coyote Dreams, that I think she really starts to accept what she is and what she should be doing. Until now she’s been running mostly on instinct, epically screwing things up while trying to fix something else.

Faced with the consequences of past actions and lacking her spirit guide, Joanne truly has to own up to her power, to accept it and take proper control of it. With no one to rely on but herself, Joanne doesn’t have much of a choice in the matter.

I think that Coyote Dreams is a really big turning point in Joanne’s character. She is really coming into her own and facing those parts of her that she refused to see for so long. The ending made me a bit sad, but it definitely will drive forward the rest of the series.

Coyote Dreams is a solid 4 out of 5 stars and I’d recommend to anyone who likes Urban Fantasy and magic systems based in Native American beliefs.

Thanks for reading!