Lucky by Bear (R)

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

Apologies for the break between posting the overview and my first recommendation. My laptop went into cardiac arrest on Tuesday night, and was in intensive care at my neighbor-the-IT-guy's house ("We can rebuild him! We have the technology!") until Sunday, leaving me with little online time. But this first rec should be the start of a consistent trend.

Fandom: CRIMINAL MINDS
Pairing: none
Author on LJ: matociquala
Author Website: Post tagged with "fanfiction" OR Elizabeth Bear dot com for information on her original published work
Why this must be read:

I'm going to start out with a gen casefile that reads just like an episode. Bear has a marvelous handle on the characters and spreads the focus around in this story, told from the point of view of JJ and Prentiss and Garcia. The case is creepy but satisfying by the end (per the author, "some serious squick factor"), and if you've never read Criminal Minds fanfiction I think this would be a good introduction because it highlights each of the team's strengths and weaknesses.

This story is set towards the end of season two, after Reid was abducted and tortured, and he's had words with Prentiss, so there's conflict carried over from the show, as well as some intra-narrative wrangling with local police.


"This case is unusual," [JJ] said, "in that we have almost no physical evidence. No bodies. No crime scenes. No dump sites. Just a handful of missing persons reports that seem to be linked by a common victimology. And an emergency request for help from the Las Vegas Metro P.D., linked to what at first glance appeared to be a garden-variety burglary collar."

"Burglary is not our normal line of work," Morgan said.

Gideon leaned forward on his elbows, interlacing his hands. "Collar. They have a suspect in custody?"

"They have a burglar in custody. Evidence recovered in that case has alerted Metro to the possibility that they are looking for a serial killer."

"Missing persons aren't exactly uncommon in Vegas," Reid said. "People go there to vanish."

J.J. licked her lips, a nervousness tell that didn't often emerge in the briefing room. Emily's hand tightened on her mug, and she consciously braced herself. This is going to be bad. She could take a little pity on J.J., though, and be the one to ask the stupid question that would give her a push. "So in the absence of victims, why do they suspect they have a serial killer?"


(One thing I probably should have added to the overview – CM fandom tends to use ratings like "FRAO" and "FRM" instead of "NC-17" or "R". I have no clue why. If you're curious about what they mean, or can never keep them straight, check here for guidelines)

Lucky Part One
Lucky Part Two

Comments

[amireal.livejournal.com]

The ratings are built out of where the people originally came from and/or where most of the fiction in that fandom is hosted. Several specific hosting sites and MLs switched over to the system a few years ago and after that it just branched.

[thepouncer.livejournal.com]

I think the biggest archive in the fandom is FF.net, and I know they were a high-profile booster of the fan ratings system, so that makes sense.

I can never remember what the abbreviations are supposed to mean!