"Hunter's Fall," Shiloh Walker

Pros: Lovely, emotional, gripping, tense; helps to have read earlier books, but readable if you haven’t
Cons: Helps to have read earlier books; would have liked to see Dominic and Nessa interact directly a bit more; wanted to shake Nessa a bit much toward the end
Rating: 4 out of 5

Review book courtesy of Penguin Group

Ever since the witch Nessa “died,” she’s been living in someone else’s body—someone who’s definitely not happy about being a ghost in her own head. It doesn’t help that Nessa has given up on life, and the previous resident of her body, Morgan, is perfectly happy to help push her over the edge. She’s having dreams of a mystery lover, but she still hasn’t gotten over the loss of her beloved Elias more than 500 years earlier. He said he’d come back for her, but she’s finally giving up.

Dominic is a vampire who’s had strange dreams of late—dreams of a mystery woman who distracts him when he can least afford it. He thinks he’s going insane, and is sent to Excelsior, the Hunter training facility, to be evaluated and hopefully helped. There he senses a very familiar presence, one that he’s determined to track down at all costs.

Nessa and Dominic each find themselves in their own very dangerous positions, their minds fractured and untrustworthy. It’s hard to imagine how they’ll save themselves, much less track down and save each other.

Shiloh Walker’s Hunter’s Fall is part of her series “The Hunters”. Even though I haven’t managed to keep up with the series, I found I was able to get into the world and story with little difficulty, which is a huge benefit!

Nessa’s situation was fascinating, and I liked the fact that her initial wallowing took a more interesting form than simple moping. It was also very easy to believe that someone of her age who’d been through what she’d been through would be ready for things to be over. I liked Dominic as well, although I wanted to see more direct interaction (and thus chemistry) between him and Nessa. My other negative is that I have a particular aversion to characters who repeatedly screw over themselves and their beloveds under the mistaken assumption that they’re doing something noble; I wanted to shake Nessa a few times.

While many authors of late have pursued series about paranormal groups that work to protect humanity from their more dangerous brethren, Shiloh’s books manage to maintain a distinct and magical feel to them. Vampires aren’t supermen by another name; there are good and bad aspects to their nature, and they retain some of the “curse” that has followed them through legend.

The events of the book are gripping, emotional, and tense, and the book easily swept me up in its events. I look forward to reading more Hunter books!