Under the Shadow

Moonrunner #1

by Jane Toombs

Sergei Volek awakens on a lonely California beach--naked, injured and without any memory of who he is. Or, worse, what he is. He doesn't learn the truth until the first full moon when he changes. He struggles to conceal and control his malevolent inheritance as he tries to find a place where he belongs.Harried by humans afraid of his kind, he travels from Gold Rush California to New Orleans, to Michigan, the killing fields of the Civil War and finally back to the fortress he's built in California to protect his family. Sergie and his family are safe within the fortress--until a long overdue debt forces him to invite danger inside the fortress walls...

Genres: Ebooks, Fiction

312 pages, Paperback

First published July 7, 1992

About the author

Jane was born in California, raised in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, has returned "home" to live in the beautiful Upper Peninsula on the shore of Lake Superior--with the Viking from her past. Jane has five children, two stepchildren, seven grandchildren, a calico cat named Kinko and two computers.

She's the author of over seventy published books, both in paper and electronic. These include the various romance genres--gothic, suspense, contemporary, historical, Regency and paranormal--as well as other genres such as mystery, fantasy and horror. Jane has used pseudonyms--Ellen Jamison, Diana Stuart, Olivia Sumner--but is now writing under her own name except for her Zebra/Pinnacle romances for which she uses Jane Anderson.

Reviews

[Netanella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow - this one was really good. It's old, written in 1992, and has a sweeping, epic feel to it, as it spans several decades and two countries, both the US and Russia. It reminds me of those sweeping period dramas that were made into mini-series back in the 70's and 80's - the Thorn Birds, Abel and Cain, etc. It's the story of a young man who washes ashore on the coast of California in the mid 1800's. He's naked, injured, and cannot remember a single thing beyond this moment.

And what a story. This stranger travels from the ranches of Cali to the swamps of Louisiana and back again. He becomes a doctor, and fights in the American Civil War. He meets witches of the Indian, Creole, Finnish, Dutch, and Russian varieties. And, under the light of the full moon, he shifts into a beast.

The ending is good, too, with author Toombs setting up the dynastic element for the Volek clan, with the unanswered questions: what will become of the Volek curse of the twins? Will this mysterious new woman, whom he's let into the compound, bring fortune or tragedy? Is she, too, a shapeshifter? If I can find a copy of the next book in the series, I will continue on...

[Arlene Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome urban fantasy written way before urban fantasy was a genre....didn't know there were more in the series, how cool.