Speaker of The Lost (Lark Nation Book 1) by Clara Coulson

Imagine being promoted to agent when you still have two months of training left.  Then add to it being given a mission assignment in small town Maine with a partner who is known for his incredibly bad mood and his inability to keep a partner for long.  This is the position Stella Newport finds herself in.  She has been training to become a member of the FBI's Paranormal Squad.  She aced her first 3 training missions in hopes of landing the best senior partner when her training is complete.  However, since an attack on a convention center in Aurora, Michigan, the DSI (Department of Supernatural Investigations) and the FBI's Paranormal Squad need as many qualified agents on the ground as possible.

The squad's agent-in-charge cuts Stella's training short because of her exemplary training score and sends her to join Oswald (Oz) Bolton in Bismuth, Maine.  Oz would prefer to work alone.  He is moody, and hasn't recovered from the loss of his partner 5 years ago.  Oz and Stella must investigate what turns into a string of murders by beheading.  Trying to get answers in a small tight knit and tight lipped town makes it no easy task.

I really enjoyed this book.  The characters were all so well written.  I felt empathy for Oz.  Hoping he could finally get over the loss of his partner in order to make his partnership with Stella work.  I understood his pain and the attitude he showed the world to protect himself.  Frequently through out the story I found Stella doing things that I would do.  She was such an easy character for me to relate to.  She's a bit of an over achiever, but doesn't do it to make others look bad, but to be the best person she can be.  She wants to prove herself to the world around her, but sometimes this leads to her taking bigger risks than necessary.  Sheriff Barnes is a character you can easily grow to dislike.  It seems like he doesn't care who gets hurt of dies as long as he himself is okay.  He's not afraid to bend the rules to benefit himself. 

This book was hard to put down.  It's very engaging.  I think that if you like a good mystery with a little bit of magic and paranormal activity you will love this book.  Some of the scenes about the murders are a little graphic, but there is not sexual scenes.  I would feel comfortable letting a mature teenager read this book. 

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.