Immortal Hunter
(Execution Underground, #2)
By: Kait Ballenger
Publisher: HQN Books
Published: April 1, 2014
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Rating:
Hunters of the supernatural, the Execution Underground are an elite group tasked with protecting humanity…but at what price?
As an exorcist, David Aronowitz grew up the target of demonic assassins. Now he’s a member of the Execution Underground and hellspawn everywhere fear his name. But when a demon slips into the seductive body of the only woman he’s ever loved,
David must confront the heartbreak of their past to save her. The piece of her heart Allsún O’Hare gave to David so long ago left her trapped between two worlds: the Fae and the human. And when David comes to her rescue, fate reunites her with her greatest temptation—and her biggest mistake.
Now, as they’re swept together into a wicked game with the demon who controls her, David must decide if saving Allsún’s life is worth sacrificing his own—and the future of humanity itself.
A good portion of this story is of David trying to win Allsún back after their relationship ended years ago. She was kidnapped and tortured in the last book and now that she’s out of harms way, David is set on winning her back. However, Allsún is still angry at David, even though he has no idea what or why, and she fights real hard to keep her heart distanced from him.
“To them you may be a hero, but to me, you’re just the man who broke my heart.”
I love that each other these books not only deal with a different member of EU but each member is uniquely different. I don’t mean just personality wise but specialty wise as well. David is a demon exorcist. That’s it. He doesn’t hunt vampires, werewolves or knows how to hack into the CIA’s files. But he can send a demon back to hell like nobody’s business. Allsún many years back was his partner in crime/fiancee. So it doesn’t take long for the two of them to start kicking butt against some hell spawn.
It isn’t until three quarters of the way through the book that Allsún becomes possessed. From the synopsis, I thought this was the whole story but like I said, it doesn’t actually happen until you’re well past the half way mark. The first half of the book is David trying to figure out why a demon is attacking families the way that it is. And boy does Kait know how to write a paranormal romance while still giving the reader the nitty gritty of the story. She was able to blur the lines so well between horror/suspense and romance.
“The sulfur-sucking monster had slung the kid’s intestines around his corpse as if they were nothing more than sausage links. This had to be the most sickening scene he has ever laid eyes on, and he had seen some seriously messed-up shit during the year he’s served in the Brooklyn division.”
I like that Kait wrote in your typical drama bombs but she made it her own. She was able to create this story that worked so well for her characters. However, I’d be lying if the authors note at the end didn’t pull at my heart strings.
However, I found myself really gravitating to Shane in this story, even though he wasn’t a main character. You can tell that he’s going to be the next one up but still, for some reason his story really interested me. I like that he’s interested in his college student who also bartends at a strip club. I will definitely be sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for his story to come out.
“Sometimes all we need to begin to heal is for someone else to bear witness to our pain.”
Previous reviews from Execution Underground
Shadow Hunter
Twilight Hunter
Kait Ballenger is a full-time paranormal romance author, wife, former professional bellydancer, and soon-to-professor. She lives in Central Florida with her husband, their doggie-daughter Sookie (like Charlainne Harris’ character), and two kittens, Elliot and Olivia (like the SVU characters). Kait believes anything is possible, and one day, she hopes people name their pets after her characters, too.
I really need to give her a read. I’ve seen so many good reviews for her lately. Love that they each are specialized. That’s a nice set up. Definitely makes it more interesting!