The second book of the InCryptid series takes place about six months after Discount Armageddon, and this review will include spoilers for the previous novel. Verity and Dominic are in an undefined relationship but she is still a Price and he is still Covenant so neither wants to discuss what is going on. While Dominic has kept her identity secret and neglected to tell the Covenant about the male dragon under Manhattan, he has still been a member of monster hunting society since birth. He may no longer buy the company line that all non-humans must be eliminated and has seen that they are intelligent individuals but he also won’t exactly prioritize their lives over human lives.
When Dominic tells Verity that the Covenant plans to do an inspection visit to check on his progress, Verity, her friends and her family are worried, and start making plans to assure their survival, some going into lock down. Verity leaves her apartment for a secret hide out where she also offers shelter to a few others in the area that may be open targets. Her cousin Sarah is among them, and her family also sends her Uncle Mike, a Chicago cryptozoologist, to help her out, thus introducing the reader to more of the extended family. The previous novel already talked a bit about Sarah’s telepathic abilities, but in this novel, there is a lot more detail on her species and her abilities. Sarah and her mother are rare among their species, which generally uses its powers for evil, so she causes some fear even among other cryptids that know of her kind.
The Covenant members that arrive include a member of the Healy family that didn’t leave when Verity’s great-great grandparents did, and Margaret Healy’s hatred of her traitorous extended family member is extreme even amongst the Covenant since she blames them for her family’s loss of standing.
I was honestly surprised that McGuire already included a large Covenant story line this early into the series but appreciated that the Covenant wasn’t going to be a faceless organization with the occasional hot guy who is easily convinced that maybe he is wrong in his views. The group as a whole is determined and full of true believers in their cause. However, this also meant that this novel, while very good, wasn’t quite as lighthearted as the previous the one since the threat seemed much more serious.
One minor continuity nitpick: at one point, Dominic is described as coming from a Spanish covenant family but from this novel onward he is referred to as Italian. Maybe the family moved or the Prices had incorrect info but I did notice it.