Hunted by the Others review

Hunted by the Others is written by Jess Haines. This is the first in a paranormal fantasy series, H & W Investigations.  As of 2012, H & W Investigations series has four books.

The main character is Shiarra Waynest. She is a human private investigator that is hired to find an ancient artifact believed to be in the possession of a vampire, Alec Royce. In this novel, supernatural creatures are now public about their existence and not everyone is adjusting well. Some humans devolved a prejudice against these Others, which is the name for the supernatural population.   The White Hats are one group that is extremely prejudiced against the Others.  Shiarra is somewhat prejudice against the Others, in that she does not trust them as she would another human.  

Shiarra is scared of the Others. She is scared of their power, of their ability to easily kill her and of their ability to change her into one of them.  Her character has a fierce and independent personality.  She generally cares about people and wants to help those in need. The artifact Shiarra has to find is an artifact that could create a war between the Others and release a dangerous creature on the population. She accepts the case of finding the artifact even though she does not want to get involved with the Others, because she needs the money to keep her practice afloat.

At first Shiarra would have been happy to leave the Others to their own demise. Then she starts to care about what happens to the Others, because she realizes that even if they can hurt you more easily, some are good people. Shiarra is considered a three dimensional character because of these changes.

Shiarra’s relationship with Alec Royce, a vampire, is very complicated. She does not want to get involved with any supernatural people, men or otherwise. Royce, on the other hand, you learn really likes Shiarra.  Royce is tough, charismatic, and smart.  Royce is an old master vampire.  He is extremely powerful, which is one of the reasons Shiarra stays away from him.  I have liked reading about these two characters.  Their dialogue plays off each other very well.  I like to read how their relationship develops. They start out as enemies, but work their way to almost becoming friends and are able to work together.

Hunted by the Others is a brilliant work of fiction. I enjoyed reading about these characters and how they develop as the novel goes along. Jess Haines created the perfect debut novel.