Stalking the Others by Jess Haines
“Stalking” is a not quite the word I’d use for what Shia Waynest, brooding protagonist turned crazed killa, does to the Others in Stalking the Others, book four in the H&W Investigations series. Imagine being the Boogeyman, some Big Bad who strikes fear into the hearts of your enemies, scared to death of a small redhead with a taste for vengeance and a power-wielding belt full of implements of your gruesome and painful death. You aren’t so much being stalked by this tiny fireball – you are being categorically wiped out. It’s supernatural genocide at the hands of a human, and I love it!
You can tell Shia is off her rocker from page one. Is it the bite from the werewolf causing her to be so angry and vicious, or something else? Something darker? I don’t blame her for wanting to castrate her ex-boyfriend, Chaz, or even for wanting to eviscerate Dillon, the werewolf who bit her, but Shia goes after the whole pack. That’s one woman with a possessed belt against a boat-load of werewolves — definitely not a sane move.
Smexy vampire Royce could probably help her pinpoint the cause of her dysfunction, but she’s avoiding him like…well…a blood-sucking leech. Her only allies in her quest are the White Hats, who don’t care why Shia wants to kill Others, they just want to be there to gain a few kills themselves.
Stalking the Others is a pivotal novel for this series. It’s the “a-ha!” moment Shia’s been fighting against since Hunted by the Others, book one. If Shia hadn’t succumbed to her fate and continued to fight against it, it would have started a downward spiral of characterization I’m not sure the novels could have recovered from. Instead, Shia takes a deep breath, puts her big girl panties on, and dives off of her comfort level straight into the murky waters of her future. The journey will be treacherous, and I’m sure she’ll gain a few bites along the way, but she’s got nowhere to go but up to a surface of new possibilities and adventures. I can’t wait for the next installment!
Book Stats:
- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Kensington (July 3, 2012)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1420124021
- ISBN-13: 978-1420124026
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Books in the H&W Investigations series in the order they should be read:
Hunted by the Others
Taken by the Others
Deceived by the Others
Stalking the Others
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