Stalker of Shadows

SPECTR Series 3, Book 1

By: Jordan L. Hawk

Narrated by: Brad Langer

Some stones are better left unturned....

John Starkweather feels restless. Though still technically an agent for SPECTR, his only job now seems to be hanging out with his boyfriends, Caleb and the vampire spirit Gray, and binge-watching TV in their New Orleans apartment.

The inactivity comes to an abrupt end when a rougarou attacks John’s estranged grandfather. Even though he hasn’t seen his family since he was a teen, John can’t pass up the opportunity to reconnect.

The more John investigates the attack, the stranger everything about it seems, from his parents’ odd behavior to the rougarou’s unnatural size. And the closer John comes to finding answers, the nearer he draws to a truth that might be better left uncovered.

©2019 Jordan L. Hawk (P)2019 Jordan L. Hawk

Here we go again…

John, Caleb and Gray find themselves in New Orleans. They’d been travelling around the country for some time but were asked by Kaniyar to investigate strange happenings in New Orleans. John is still healing from the fight with the drakul a few months back, and is unable to be as active as he wants. Caleb is having the time of his life, having taken a job as a vampire tour guide for tourists. Which Gray obviously feels is mortal nonsense to the nth degree. He wants to spend the time hunting. When John gets a call that his grandfather had been seriously injured in a rougarou attack the trio drops everything and rushes over to lend a hand (and fang). John hopes that this might be an opening to reunite with his estranged family.

John’s history has been hinted at since the beginning but we’ve never really gotten many details. Now when he returned to his family we saw so much, more than we wanted at times. I hate that this book brought so much pain for John. It really showed us that no one can hurt us as much as family. I really liked Ryan and hope he will be a continuous feature going forward. On that same note, I have to mention that I miss Zahira, she livened things up whenever she was around. But I guess her place is at SPECTR rebuilding and holding down the fort. I do hope she’ll join the boys later on in the series.

I’m intrigued by some of the comments the telepathic demon made. I don’t know where it will lead us in the future books, but going from past experience with Hawk’s books, it’s probably nowhere good. Relationship-wise, our guys are solid, still not 100% after the mess in Charleston, but they are moving forward – together. It’s nice to see them settled and sure.

Brad Langer captures the essence of the book. I love how he really goes all out for the suspenseful moments, those whispers just before everything blows up. They really set the tone, make the listener a part of the story and feel the intensity and thrill of the huts or attacks. I loved Caleb’s vampire tours, irony and all. But I also felt like he was finally allowed something he enjoyed and not only following John and Gray in their hunts. Langer really made these tours fun, fake fangs and all.

Fans of the previous two series will most definitely enjoy this one, and if you haven’t read any of the stories, go back to the beginning to see how it all started out. As always this book ends with a cliff-hanger, but this time it’s more of a “to be continued in…”

A copy of this book was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review for Love Bytes.

Grey narration...

love the series. love the characters but cannot*stand* Grey's dialogue. I get that he's supposed to be deep and otherworldly but ...it's too slow it's comical and really takes me out of the moment. it's gotten worse as the series has continued...