Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss. ( )

I love the image of the woman setting up a curbside private detective agency in London, chatting casually with passersby and easily answering their every question. But instead of any deduction skills, Trina Hampstead has a super power that gives her near omniscience, so she instantly knows the answer to every mystery presented to her . . . except of course the one of how she got her powers.

It wants to be all quirky and sassy, but after the promising start, the story slumps into a slow and dreary trip across the breadth of Russia that involves lots of phone conversations, mammoth corpses, and assassins. So many assassins. Why so many assassins?

I enjoy Tobin's work when it is in collaboration with his wife, Colleen Coover, but his other books consistently fail to impress me. The occasionally ugly art provided here by Alberto J. Albuquerque certainly doesn't help matters. ( )

As soon as Trine Hampstead hears a mystery, she immediately knows the answer to it, down to the last nitty-gritty detail. It's a power she developed a few years ago under strange circumstances -- the only mystery she doesn't know the answer to ... yet. For now, she's intrigued by a mystery about missing journals from a Siberian expedition to find woolly mammoths. Unfortunately, a hit man is also interested in the same -- and in removing Trine from the competition.

Previously, I've read Tobin's Bandette comics and quite enjoyed them, so I decided to check this one out as well. The audience here is clearly meant to be a bit more adult than Bandette, and thus the violence and the sex are ramped up. While I could have done with fewer naked strippers and murdered dogs, overall this book was entertaining. There were certainly Bandette-like elements to it for those who really enjoyed that series -- a quip-spouting female heroine who works closely with the police despite having her own code of ethics, cares for dogs, has a sorta-of boyfriend who's nearby when needed, and surrounds herself with a motley crew of friends/helpers/informants.

It was great seeing a person of color as the super-powered protagonist, and to see the diversity of London's population reflected in the other characters as well (including in crowd scenes). This was a fast-paced and compelling read, and I'm curious to see where Tobin will take the character next. ( )

Interesting, unusual ( )