Predators

by Wanda La Claire

Ann was a quiet online computer programmer. Her best friend Patty was secretly in love with Ann’s only other friend, Josh. Aside from a few minor problems, Ann was a happy person until she discovered Patty’s bloody body sprawled across her bed. The situation gets worse, when Patty’s killer turns out to be a cop, a cop who appears to be something not quite human. Unfortunately, for Ann, a door has opened into a dark realm and she cannot close it. Josh and Ann run to Amsterdam were Ann discovers that she just might be a part of that shadowy world. Munich, Paris, Ann finds she cannot run far enough to get away from herself.

ebook

First published August 10, 2012

About the author

Wanda La Claire received an Astrophysics degree at the University of British Columbia. She began writing documentaries for small science theatres and discovered a love for reaching out and connecting with her audiences by breaking down complex ideas and making them more relatable. She moved on to editing other authors' work before deciding to take on writing novels herself.

When not busy writing, Wanda enjoys hiking and rock climbing in the beautiful province of British Columbia. She is currently working on her second novel, Prey.

Reviews

[Adam Rusic · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this supernatural mystery, author Wanda La Claire gives us a thinking person's heroine in Ann LePage, far from the shrieking buxom bimbo of the B-movies. When Ann finds her best friend hideously murdered, she sets in motion a chain of events that tears her life from its moorings in Vancouver, carrying the adventure to old Europe. Pursued by forces she does not understand, she slowly pieces together her own predicament and past, and unveils a shadowy realm of otherworldly creatures.

La Claire eschews the gorefest and tired tropes of many horror offerings, preferring instead to let the camera linger on the emotional damage wrought by violent death, to good effect. I particularly enjoyed the mystery element of the book; La Claire handles the suspense tactfully, never revealing any more than the reader has to know, so that our eyes are opened at the same time as LePage's.

All in all, an effective, intriguing and highly readable first novel. I'm looking forward to the sequel.

[Tattooed_mummy · Rating 3 out of 5]

oh, well I really enjoyed the first half of the book and then something happened, the dialogue became both simpler and yet more waffly, it didn't seem to be as well written as the story and prose surrounding it, but I carried on reading as I was still really gripped by the tale itself and then ... the book just ended. is there another book? what's going on? it just stopped seemingly halfway through the story. So disappointed.

[C.G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book while proofreading it for the author who is a friend, so it was a different reading experience than I usually have, plus I don't usually connect as well when a book is written in first person. That said, there is plenty going on in this book - vampires and werewolves (or are they?) and humans in a mix. There is murder and romance and travel and very good-looking 'people'.