The Alpha

Venator #2

by Joe Mikolay

It’s been four years since a vicious pack of werewolves turned Michael Halliday’s small town into a slaughterhouse. In that time, he picked up where his father left off: hunting monsters as a Venator.

In New York City, a mighty and ancient vampire stakes his claim upon the land. The only hope to stop the vampire lord may lie within Michael’s own blood.

Can Michael - an Alpha wolf without a pack - hope to defeat one of the most powerful beings walking the Earth, before he can turn Manhattan into an island of the undead?

Genres: Werewolves, Paranormal

308 pages, Paperback

Published September 12, 2014

About the author

Writer, Sports Fan, Lover of Stupidly Clever (or Cleverly Stupid) Comedy, Horror/Sci-Fi Junkie, Critter Lover.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rarely do I enjoy a sequel more than the original but such was the case with this one. The characters were better written, the pace was faster, and the action more intense.

I really hope there's more to come!

[Charles Tilley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do love this series, though I liked The Pack a lot more.That's just a werewolves over vampires opinion. That aside the addition new monsters and creatures to expand the Venatore's world is awesome. This is a well written and fast paced series. Mikolay's writing style is swift with just enough subtle description to draw you in, yet not take away from the driving action. If your a fan of horror genre fiction, I highly suggest reading this series. I personally hope and can't wait for what might be next.

[Kim Ledford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have only read the second book in the series, but this book was pretty easy to get into. I will probably e finding the first book now though, as I enjoyed this one a lot! It is a fresh take on the old werewolf tale; I particularly appreciated the integration of werewolves into the "actual" modern world. I really liked the main character, Michael: he had depth and realistic moods and shortcomings, but I always found myself rooting for him as the hero. I also liked the way the author solved the plot line connecting the romantic relationships. I do wish he would've done more with the Alpha state; it seemed a bit of a deus ex machina, but that could be solved with a little more explanation.
Overall...as you can see, I'd say it's a 4/5!

I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads under no obligation to review.

[Cathy Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads. I was intrigued, and it was a little confusing coming into a story, knowing there is another book before this one. But I caught onto the characters, and the story was really very good. I liked Natalie, and Craig and Izzy were very interesting also. Michael is a nice main character, but he did not seem to dominate the story. The ending lacked details like the rest of the story: it was like the author was in a hurry to complete it and just wrote the basics. But I am glad Ellis was okay. It seemed strange that Natalie and Michael talked so much about not falling for each other at the end...it was like a set-up for the next story for them to fall for each other. It was a good book.

[Ken Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

To start, this was a first read book I received from goodreads and Mr. Mikolay.

I loved it! I only put it down when my heart began to pound and I needed to pause and catch my breath. Brilliantly descriptive, fast paced, the changing venues were closely enough together to keep the stream of the story cogent. As it is the second in a series, it took a number of pages to understand the backstory, but it was very enjoyable without reading the first in the series.

Get a copy and read it -I'm sure you'll love it too, if vampires, werewolves, New York City have any interest.

[kerryann williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

This is a great sequel to a good book. It gets you right in and your almost right where you left off ( with questions of how and where and what) of which not all are
answered . Yet you feel good ,bad and oh my for the three familiar characters right away. The book flows a little unevenly yet is easy to follow, the main vamp/ villain
is dispatched to quickly if not easily . Would I buy book three if there was one ........oh yeah just to see how their fairing on all character fronts.
Get the book you'll like it to

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fresh take on the vampire/werewolf conflicts, and had me hooked early on. The battle scenes made me think: how this would look on-screen and would it be as exciting as in the book. Now for the bad part: It is a shame the author didn't have the book proofread before publishing it. The many errors proved distracting, and I have never read a book without a copyright page.... Please, Mr. Mikolay, treat your next book with more respect.

[arnold miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bloody & bloody

Loved the first book. Liked this one BUT it just lacked something. The "source" vampire would have made for a great protagonist in future adventures & added a connecting string to the books. But that was not to be! This seemed more like a short story with lots of fight scenesHowever I did enjoy the read & look forward to the next adventure& hope it proves to be a little more thrilling

[Shoulanda August · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

A love story with a strange kick. A werewolf fighting against his own kind and any other monsters preying on innocent humans. I loved this book from the start. Five stars!!!!!!!