And you thought your family had skeletons

 So, finished David R. Slayton's Trailer Park Trickster this morning, which was a worthy follow up to the first book. 

So, this time we have TWO focus characters, and it's a bit better balanced as to who we're following at any given point in time, although frankly, it's basically two very different stories that overlap a lot. The major one, focused on Adam, involves what happens when he goes back to Guthrie, Oklahoma, to deal with the death of his Aunt Sue, the woman who taught him to use what magic he has. The other involves his boyfriend Vincinte, who catches a ride to the funeral with the Queen of Swords, AKA Argent, of the Winter Elves. Except...well...

See, Bobby is dealing with the fact that Aunt Sue left all of her possessions to her sister Noreen and Noreen's daughter Jodi. Neither of whom like Adam. And who happen to be there when Sue's trailer blows up when he arrives. Which sets off Adam's part of the story, as he finds out Jodi has a bit of the Sight, and has been hustling money trying to pick up Sue's old customers. Unfortunately, she's also been invoking The Druid, the bad Warlock who's been making bog iron charms and who up until recentkly, Adam thought might be his father.

Vincinte (AKA Vic), on the other hand, winds up getting mixed up in Elvish affairs as someone attacks the car on the way to Oklahoma from Denver.  This leads to the Sea Elves (suite of Cups), who want control of the fallen Tower of the East, and also want to flood the human world to get rid of all humans. The Sea Elves try to kill Silver, the Knight of Swords and Ada's ex boyfriend. Which Vic, being a Reaper, is then charged with being a witness at a meeting of the Races. He's also pissed when he figures out Adam lied to him about what happened to Adam's father, and more irritated when he finds out the bond he shares with Adam is considered a marriage by the Immortal races.

The stories overlap a few times, as everyone gets together to share notes. We do eventually find out the name of the Evil Druid, and Robert's new job title gets used twice between the story arcs. And there's one passage towards the end that really really kind of hurt to read, as Vic gets a visit from his father's ghost and has a heart to heart that had me wondering how much of it was the author trying to reconcile with his own father, all the while making me wish it was MY dad and I having this long distance conversation. 

I look forward to book 3 and how we're going to resolve everything that happens here.