Hunter’s Need is the latest installment of Shiloh Walker’s Hunter series. It’s billed as a paranormal romance but I’d modify this description to paranormal romantic suspense as it contains an excellent mystery.
Although I haven’t read the preceding books in this series, I found it easy to follow. Most of the scenes involving characters from previous books occur in the first couple of chapters. Once the action moves to Alaska, the focus is entirely on the hero and heroine.
At the opening of the story, Analise Morell is the oldest student at Excelsior, a school run by the Hunters for children with special gifts. Ana’s younger brother, Brad, is also a student at the school. Ana is there to learn to control her psychic abilities after an unfortunate incident four years previously when Ana and Brad were abducted by Cat, a sadistic vampire . In order to protect her brother, Ana was tortured and forced to lure others to the vampire’s lair. One of the people Ana seduced into accompanying her was Duke Lawson, a shapeshifter and one of the elite Hunters. Duke was tortured and almost killed by Cat, before his fellow Hunters helped them to escape.
Four years later, their physical wounds have healed but the memories of betrayal remain. Duke is disgusted with himself for feeling attracted to Ana. Ana still feels enormous guilt at the suffering Duke was forced to endure because of her actions. Most of the students and staff at Excelsior distrust Ana and she is aware that her brother suffers as a result. Deciding she’s learned as much as she ever will about psychic shields, Ana knows it’s time to move on, as much for her brother’s sake as for her own.
Ana builds a new life for herself in Alaska. While she’s sometimes lonely, she knows that striking out on her own has helped her to regain her self-confidence. One day, she notices something odd. A homeless man to whom she often gives money appears to have a ghostly companion. When a co-worker admonishes Ana for approaching him, she learns that Paul is suspected of the murder of his girlfriend many years before. Ana is astounded by this information as her psychic abilities indicate that Paul is innocent of the crime. A little research reveals that Paul’s ghostly companion is Marie, the woman he is alleged to have murdered. Realizing there is something very wrong in this scenario, Anna decides to call in the Hunters.
The Hunter sent to investigate is none other than Duke Lawson. Being in such close proximity to one another, Duke and Ana are forced to work out their differences and learn to forgive and accept past mistakes.
When Paul is found dead next to the mutilated body of a young woman who bore a striking resemblance to his murdered girlfriend, the police decide this proves his guilt and connect him to a series of similar murders. Ana is not so sure. As the body count rises, so does Duke and Ana’s mutual attraction. Soon, they are in a race against time to find the killer before he strikes again…
Hunter’s Need is an imaginative, beautifully-written romance. Ana is a strong character without being the sterotypical kick-ass paranormal romance/urban fantasy heroine. Duke is very alpha, but he respects Ana’s abilities and doesn’t condescend to her. Duke hates to be confined and I thought the Alaskan setting worked particularly well for his character.
I appreciated the fact that several years elapsed between the incident with the vampire and Ana and Duke getting together. This made their relationship more believable. I think he needed time to overcome his anger and she needed a chance to heal and reclaim her independence.
My only quibble lies with the resolution of the mystery. There were only two suspects and I wasn’t overly surprised at the identity of the murderer. I would have preferred a couple more possible suspects to add to the element of surprise.
I’d recommend Hunter’s Need to all fans of urban fantasy and paranormal romance. This is the first book I’ve read by Shiloh Walker, but if it’s any indication of the quality of her work, it certainly won’t be the last. Grade: B+
* I received an ARC of this book from the author. Hunter’s Need will be released 01 December 2009.
{ 11 comments }
I soo want this book! Must have this book..
Hi Sarah… I’m glad you enjoyed the book. Thanks for the review!
This one’s up next for me and I cannot wait to read it. Huge fan of this series. Glad you enjoyed it – great review!
I haven’t read this series but it sounds great!
@Edie Hope you enjoy it.
@Shiloh Walker And thanks for a fun read!
@Stacy ~ I’m going to go back and read the earlier books.
@Mandi Both the writing and the story sucked me in.
Nice review! In my TBR pile.
I’m afraid to read your review just now cuz I’m reading the book at the moment. Will come back after I finished it!
Definitely sounds intriguing!
This is one of those authors and series I managed to avoid since it already had quite a few releases in this series but it sounds so very much like my kinda reading Sarah
I just lurked at fantasticfiction and is this series published with two publishers? Both Ellora’s Cave and Berkley? Those EC TPB are so not cheap *headdesk*
@katiebabs I’ll be curious to read your review.
@SusiSunshine Ha! It’s pretty spoiler free, but I understand where you’re coming from. I tend to avoid reviews of books I know I want to read until I’ve already read them.
@heidenkind Yep, it’s fun.
@Leontine As far as I can tell, all the Hunters books are set in the same world, but the Berkley releases can stand alone without having read the Ellora’s Cave books.
I know what you mean about EC Trades. It’s the same with Samhain. I really want to read Deidre Knight’s Butterfly Tattoo and I’m not keen do so on the PC. But the trade PB won’t be out until February and costs €11.99 on Amazon.de. Ouch!
I’m back. Agree with your review. Thought the same about the suspects. Enjoyed it even though I haven’t read the other books in this series.
And WTF Butterfly Tattoo costs €11.99. Oh my that’s mighty! I planned to buy it again as PB. Have to think about that now!