Kimberly’s review of Hunting the Shadows by Alexis Reed

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Amy has spent her life in isolation. Locked away in the Centre, a secret government facility where children with extraordinary abilities are raised as highly skilled fighters, she longs for a normal life. A life where being around people doesn’t overload her sensitive telepathic mind. A life where she can’t see through the eyes of a murderer as he hunts down his next victim…

J.C. Nikolaiev was a top researcher, but when his conscience got the better of him, he tried to destroy his work and free his subjects—and was imprisoned as a traitor. To save himself and prevent more people from dying, J.C. must catch the serial killer stalking the halls of the facility. But his only leads come from a woman whose thoughts have invaded his mind…

Finally out of the psych ward, Amy joins forces with J.C. to find the killer before he closes in on them. Can their growing attraction withstand the truths they uncover?

REVIEW:
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. This seems to be the first book by this author and I was not sure what to expect but this book had the feel of Christine Feehan’s “GhostWalkers” series. At first when I read the synopsis I wondered if it was going to be a take off of Feehan’s books but this book really stands alone and while it has the same feel to it the fact is this book can only be compared to “GhostWalkers” because it is set in an institution and there is telepathy being used. That being said if you enjoy the “GhostWalkers” series you can not miss this book. I can imagine Reed’s writing evolving to become a very well known name in the paranormal world. This book had excitement, romance and suspense. I did not want to miss a word of it. Yes, I do believe Reed has some work to do to reach the pinnacle of say someone like Feehan but I believe she could do it in time.

The character of Amy is simplistic and yet intriguing. She has so many talents and yet has been locked away her whole life so while she can kill a man with her mind she has never touched grass and the joy she gets from doing that is endearing. J.C. is an interesting character. While you can sense how he feels for Amy there are a number of times you wonder if he really is on her side or is he just being “a company man” and doing what he has to do. I would have been happier to if I had met more of the background players and they had been given more of a storyline since I found it easy to identify the killer pretty early. I enjoyed the intimate communication between Amy and J.C. very much and wish there had been a little more of it in the personal setting and not just in time of stress but the few times we heard the personal conversations I feel it brought more connection to the couple.