The Infected Series by Andrea Speed

I can't get these books out of my head; I can't figure a way to do justice to them. Not without huge spoilers. I can, however, try to convey the world and the people and see how that does.

There are eight books in the series. In my opinion, the strongest are the first three:

These are m/m books with the bedroom door closed. The protagonist is Roan McKichen, who is a viral child. This means he was born with the werecat virus while most people are infected through blood and other body fluids. Most viral children are defective and don't live very long; in fact all infected have significantly shortened life spans, especially if they're infected with the tiger strain, as Roan's partner is. Roan himself has the lion strain and has beaten the odds; he is the only one of his kind. There are also panther and leopard strains.

These books were first published by Dreamspinner Press and now are reissued by the author. They are very noir; Roan is an ex-cop and a PI, and because of the virus there's a lot of blood and death. This was one thing I didn't understand or managed to miss in the text: most cats will flee if confronted with a bunch of humans, but these infected cats attacked without provocation. Perhaps it's because they're human at their core, although it was made perfectly clear that when the change is made, nothing human is left, only cat.

The infected must change once a month for 3-5 days. They have no control over this and they make sure they have cages and reinforced rooms to keep themselves and others safe. The world Ms Speed builds is much like ours, with all the HIV and STDs included and without trying Roan makes a family of his own (he was a foster child), with his partners Paris and Dylan, and Holden who used to work the streets. Hell, a damn hockey team adopts them. I love the hockey team, every one of them.

Each book contains two or three cases Roan works, along with the building of relationships. Yes, the books are dark, but the relationships more than make up for that.. The love between Roan and Paris is a beautiful thing. Roan's powers grow throughout the books as his health deteriorates, until at the end he has a decision to make. I would say the books end with a HFN.

Book Two absolutely devastated me.

I'm so glad I found these books - can't remember how I found them, but I do rejoice. This is a great series and I highly recommend it.