Shadow Hunter

Midnight Chronicles #1

by Andrea Pearson

Bound to destroy the woman he loves...

Abel hasn’t seen Lizzie in at least seven years, and his experiences since then have changed him significantly. He’s sure he’s moved past his earlier crush, that he’s immune to her carefree and bubbly personality, but the moment his eyes land on her, he knows he’s still in love.

Instead of a joyful reunion, though, he only suffers agony at being in her presence again.

Because he’s being blackmailed into murdering her.

And there’s no way out. The Shadow Prophet has vowed to kill everyone Abel holds dear if he doesn’t complete the job. Abel has tried everything he can think of to break the contract, but nothing has worked, and he has nowhere else to turn.

Complicating things further, he gets recruited by a second client to help Lizzie achieve an impossible mission. One where they must work closely together while hunting immortal demons. One that will either destroy him or force him to kill her before he’s found a way out—before he’s ready to do it.

But how can a man ever be ready to murder the woman he loves?

If you enjoy high-stakes fantasy action, romance with a hint of angst, and fast-moving paranormal stories, you’ll love Shadow Prophet, book one in an addictive fantasy series.

Genres: Fantasy, Audiobook, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Supernatural, Romance

244 pages, ebook

First published October 15, 2019

About the author

Andrea, a Brigham Young University graduate, is an avid reader and outdoor enthusiast (hiking, fishing, boating, biking, spending time in the Rocky Mountains, and taking walks). She spent a year and a half serving the Spanish speaking community in Toronto, Canada, and fluently speaks 2 ½ languages. She plays several instruments, not including the banjo, and loves putting together musical arrangements. Her favorite sports are basketball and football, though several knee surgeries and incurably awful coordination prevent her from playing them.

Andrea is always in the mood for a good movie with close friends and family (especially her husband and mom), with a large glass of milk and a bowl of overly buttered popcorn nearby. She also enjoys oil painting, making earrings, squeezing every bit of oxygen out of Ziploc bags, and she hopes to someday travel to Italy and Alaska.

Reviews

[Sherry Fundin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This action packed, demons running amok, kill or be killed paranormal and supernatural thriller had me intrigued from the first sentence of the blurb: Bound to destroy the woman he loves…but I kept tripping up over the tense and I felt like I was missing something…is this a spinoff from a previous series…was it Abel’s turn to tell his story?

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing first book in another fabulous series. Abel thinks he’s over his crush but as soon as he sees her, knows that’s not true. Once you start reading, you’re hooked on the story. Don’t miss out.

[Madhellena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I don't know why this book has such a high rating. The story is rather boring and the main character is a depressed and depressing male without any redeeming features. I must mention this is my first book by this author and I don't plan on reading more.

Abel is an assassins with special powers. He works for a ghost because he is forced to do it - the Shadow Prophet kills members of his family if Able doesn't kill who he is told to kill. There are some background details, but the main conflict here is that Abel is asked to kill the woman he loves or his mother will be killed. Actually, it seems like this is the premise for the entire series. I was bored and found that Abel is an angsty teenager incapable of making a decision and sticking to it. The other characters that show up in the book are fleeting and forgettable. No more for me, thank you.

[Sanha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very engaging intro that draws you in from the start! The book is really well written with a good plot and interesting characters with unique abilities. I especially enjoyed the world-setting with the Hounds, Arete's, Vampires and Shades - my favourite character was Raven and I'm looking forward to seeing what role she has to play in the future. For me personally, the story really picked up half-way through the book. I felt a bit disconnected with Abel during the first part...maybe too much inner-dialogue and pining over his feelings for Lizzie. I couldn't really connect it with the assassin he is supposed to be, especially with all the traumatic things he experienced - his suffering/torture and losing his family- I would expect him to be a bit tougher and colder. There is a lot of dark things happening in the story with dark creatures, but they don’t come across that dark for me. I’m not sure how I feel about this. I don’t like things too dark, but it should touch reality. Like I've said, the first part of the book was a bit slow for me, but I think that is just the author taking her time setting things up for what is to follow and for readers to understand how this world works - like Abel having to eat all the time... at first I was like, why do I need to read so much about his appetite, only to find out later that it is an important part of his character and how he functions. There are many little introductions like this for the reader to understand each character and what laws they operate in better. It might come across a bit tedious, but I believe it is part of the build-up and expect that the pace of the story will excel with the next book and hopefully the intensity too! The storyline has so much potential to go deeper and a bit darker.

[Katherine Paschal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Woah, this was crazy dark! Don't get me wrong it was also incredible unique and interesting, but boy was it a dark read. Abel is tasked with killing basically innocent people since he is being controlled by a Dark Prophet for unknown reasons. And on top of the murdering, the world was full of different kinds of supernatural beings that had crazy skills that I had never heard of before. Basically, Abel is part of the dark world with favors exchanged for information, torture and extortion, and the worst part- Abel is going to kill his foretold soulmate, and he knows it. I liked how the author twisted two different plot lines/mysteries together to create the storyline.

Overall I thought the story was something that kept me on my toes and I was always guessing what would come next be it plot or world building. It was also really neat to have the story set in Utah where I live so places were familiar and I enjoyed that. I did struggle a little with the basis of the world since I was dropped right in, meeting Abel as he commits murder and never given an explanation until close to the end of the book. There were hints that all things supernatural were actually alien and hints that everybody knew about the supernatural issues, but it was never fully explained so I was a little confused.

Overall though I thought the story was detailed and original, and I recommend it for anyone who enjoys urban fantasy and dark paranormal with a forbidden romance.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shadow Prophet is the first book in the Midnight Chronicles series. If you have read the Mosaic Chronicles or Koven Chronicles series, you are already familiar with the main character Abel. You can read this book without having read either of those series. It is interesting to see events from Lizzie's series told from Abel's pov. There is violence and use of magic. This book is definitely worth reading.

[Hedi · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is so much wrong with this book that I cannot even be bothered to list it. And yet…

Got another first-of-a-kind experience out of this. Listened to the audio version*, went to get the text version of the second one, but ended up immediately re-reading the first one word-to-word instead. And I just can’t put my finger on the “why”... There is just something… Most certainly have never seen the point of doing this before - either the text or the audio has been sufficient. (Unless of course we’re talking about one of my hyperrare 6+ star books, which I could just keep reading on a loop, but those will never ever be “degraded” into audio format anyway, so the original point still stands.)

*Such a long-ish side remark I had to just push it into a footnote to make the paragraph above even slightly readable - authors making the firsts of their series freely available on their youtube channels is a trend I most definitely encourage and want to continue. Firstly, it does seem to work well as advertising - I bet a whole load of people hunt down the sequels as a result. Secondly, this sort of content combats the epidemic of short-form-brainrot prevalent on all platforms nowadays and therefore lifts the average quality of entertainment as a whole. Thirdly, the signal that an author is willing to give something for free, instead of squeezing every penny out of their readers like most well-known ones seem intent on doing (yes, I am aware that a large portion of this blame belongs to the wider publishing industry, but still..) is worth a lot. Fourthly (is that even a word?), through the mysteries of the recommendation algorithms, even completely unknown authors can technically appear on new readers’ radars. Fifthly, when an author bothers to publish their work on a platform, it sure as hell has been read by an actual person, instead of some terrifying AI, which is yet another epidemic, this one loose on the not-really-legal “audiobook” channels.

[Ilia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only realised after I finished this book that it is connected to other series by the author. In theory, it can be read as a standalone but I think everything would make more sense had I read the previous books. Abel is some kind of assassin, forced to commit murders assigned to him by some freaky being named the Shadow Prophet in order to save his mother's life. Oh and the Shadow Prophet has killed every other member of his family (in previous books?). His latest assignment is to kill Lizzie who is the woman he loves (but she doesn't know that)- so he is in a tight spot. He is not presented as a badass assassin with amazing skills, although he has some kind of magic and protection tattoos which sound really cool. But what the hell is going on? As a first time reader of this author, I have no idea and I was confused reading this book. What kind of world is this taking place in? Because there are vampires, demons and ghosts possibly in a modern urban fantasy setting. I liked it enough to finish it but I don't have the strength to read the author's backlist to catch up so I don't know if I will continue the series.

[Vida · Rating 5 out of 5]

How I rate the books (review below):
5 stars - "oh my gosh... Can't stop reading. Just one more chapter. Don't want this to end." I am going to buy another book even if I am frugal.
4 stars - I am going to read another book, but something was missing in it. Still really good.
3 stars - it's okay. I maybe consider reading another book of the series or from this author.
2 & 1 stars - I am not going to write a negative review again. I write myself, and I know what it means to put your heart and soul into a story. I will not contribute negative feelings to someone who managed to do what I didn't yet. :)

Oh wow, what a ride.
I needed a "short" book to listen to, and I stumbled on this hidden treasure. Oh my gosh...
I am going to buy the other books.
The adventure, the characters, the way it's written... I am in love.

[Vera Hun · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's well-written and I sincerely enjoyed reading it, although a lot of the time it felt more like I was reading a collection of short stories than a novel.
There's A LOT of travelling from one part of the US to another in this book and I don't understand why the author couldn't keep things in one city. Or keep to one state.

I also would love to get a bit more of an explanation as to why Abel accepted Alex so fast, maybe I missed it?

Also also. I feel like I don't know this world that well. I love that we as readers aren't spoon-fed all the details and can figure it out on our own but I would love to get to know the world a bit more. Maybe through more dialogue? TV broadcast? Flashback? Anything. It's an interesting world! I want to know how it works! I think this book would benefit from being longer haha

Also also also, I would love it if there was more Lizzy. Maybe one chapter from her POV? Give me SOMETHING to make me like her as much as Abel does, because after reading this book... I have no clue why he's still in love with her. Must be that pesky PTSD.

Also also also also. This point is related to the previous one. I love the main character, I really do. He's well thought-out and relatable, very human. I liked him. BUT no other character made me feel this way. I feel like they were all superficial and I'm not a big fan of that.

Anyway. It was a fun read!

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dark, paranormal, emotional. This book almost turned me away at first due to the dark nature of the setting. However, throughout the book the author tastefully adds humor, light, and hope. I was engaged to say the least. I felt the emotions of the main character. They were dark, sad, heart-wrenching. Andrea gives such depth to his emotions that I left the book feeling raw and overwhelmed with how the story ended. I wanted to read more. As hard as those emotions are, I wanted to find out what happens next.
Andrea's book reminds of works by Ted Dekker, Frank Peretti, even the dark emotions of Edgar Allan Poe. I want to read the rest of the series in order to find the hope that I caught glimpses of throughout the book.

[Mariela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good story it's my first Shadow Hunter story in Male POV , I "read" it as an audio book and it was like watching a movie with the description. It was hard to find the book as it is called "Shadow Hunter" as the audio with a totally different cover. Able is a hired gun for "Shadow man" and he has to do what he's told as his mother is being kept prisoner. His entire family has already been killed so she is all he has left. So when his last mission is to kill the woman he loves he has a hard time and tries to figure out how to get out of the "Shadow Man's" debt. It's a great book it remined me of Arrow on the CW a definite.

[Holly Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is the first book by Andrea Pearson I've ever heard/read, it is a good first book and I may look for more of this series or at least more books by Ms. Pearson. Abel is an assassin for a being called The Shadow Prophet, and he demands he kill the woman he loves, this Abel does not want to do and he ties everything in his power to not kill her.... If he tries to kill the Shadow Prophet he gets tortured as does his Mother the only still living member of his family.

[Sarah Metcalf · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read all the Koven Chronicles books and loved Lizzie! Once the series ended it has been great getting to know what Abel was doing when he wasn’t with Lizzie. And learning the back story that comes along with Abel! Andrea does a wonderful job of really getting in to Abels head and letting you see what he’s going through!

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a ride

Able is a badass! I really enjoy getting to know his story. It's fun to see Lizzie's and his story interact. It's even better to see the behind the scenes things that he did that she doesn't know about. I'm ready for more!

[Millie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should have been longer. 😉 And what's so special about Lizzie anyway?

[Mari · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s my second attempt on this book and I still can’t really get into it. It has in theory all the things I like, but it just doesn’t do it for me. Its not bad, but I don’t think it’s for me.

[MiMi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent narration and a captivating story
i loved listening to a male character POVS for a change.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit slow, but intriguing story.

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book!!! It started off slow but as I kept going I fell in love with it. Can’t wait to start book 2 straight away. Definitely worth the read.

[Géraldine Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Waow, unbelievable!!
The action starts right away and continues until the end, but unfinished, I HAVE to read the next!!

[Tuesday · Rating 3 out of 5]

listen to
Was alright, a little slow

[Noxwitchbooklife · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting classic entertaining wizard to the rescue enjoyable urban fantasy.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A darker first book than her other series. Keeps you reading to want to find out what happens next...

[Saundra Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great new series from Andrea Pearson! As with most of her series, there is a lovely overlap of worlds and characters. Abel first appeared in the Mosaic Chronicles and later in the spinoff series The Koven Chronicles in which he became a love interest for Lizzie, the main character. Finally, the intriguing Abel has garnered a series of his own. This first book is set during the same time frame as the first Koven novel but from Abel’s perspective. Where did he keep disappearing to in the midst of partnering with Lizzie? At last we know.

Abel and Lizzie first met when he was a captive on a different planet. He was born a silver, one destined to easily wield great magic, if he survived his restart. Now in his thirties, Abel still has not restarted. Instead he has used his training as an assassin to keep what is left of his family, his mother, alive. His acts don’t sit well on his conscience, but he has tried numerous times to free his mother from the Shadow Prophet in other ways and failed. So, to keep her alive, he kills and steals other’s magical essence.

His next assassination is meant to be Lizzie, the girl he has been obsessively in love with since they first met. At the same time, he is offered another job, to help Lizzie fight the Hounds and keep her safe. He gladly takes this job while trying to find a way to reconcile himself to her death or buy time to kill the Shadow Prophet.

Will Abel finally find a way to defeat his mother’s tormentor? Or will he be forced to choose between the woman he loves and his own mother?

I was gifted a copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Elda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once I started reading this book I was engrossed. I have always thought of Lizzie as one of my favorite characters ever since I first read Mosaic Chronicles and was thrilled when she got her own series, Koven Chronicles. Now she’s back in Abel’s series Midnight Chronicles book one “Shadow Prophet.” I’ve always wondered where he’d gone and what he was up to. I was intrigued as I got to find out when I read this book. If you haven’t read any of the previous books that Ms. Pearson has written, I would recommend doing so, especially the “The Shade Amulet” in Koven Chronicles. There are many instances and characters mentioned that were in the previous books, but not necessarily a need to know in order to enjoy the plots and twists in this book. Abel has gone through so many trials and hardships. It’s a wonder he is holding up as well as he is. My heart aches for him. Ms Pearson does a great job capturing his character. I could feel his despair. It doesn’t seem as if anyone can experience anything lower than Abel does. Ms Pearson also does a wonderful job of world building describing his surroundings and other characters he has to deal with. I think she truly outdid herself with this book. I can honestly highly recommend it for all those young and old and in between.

[Kaye · Rating 5 out of 5]

ONE DELIGHTFUL ADVENTURE!!!
Shenanigans run amuck! Andrea hit the motherload and blasted this bad boy wide open into this block busting piece of perfection. Satisfying is an understatement. A spinning throng of vexing circumstances and a slew of surprising events catapults this bad boy to life beautifully. Ramping up all the swirling emotions into play with every color on the spectrum. Sparks fly as intrigue, danger and suspense ensues as the chemistry sizzles. Throw in distress and turmoil and you have the recipe for disaster. Action packed, hard hitting, heart pounding, pulse racing, smooth flowing, page flipping dynamo that grabs your attention and holds it until the last word. Pushing on-ward through the trials and tribulations along with a multitude of plot twists that leave you breathless craving more. The characters are authentic, genuine and believable with depth and on point personalities it's easy to relate. They're written with such realism it melds this baby together piece by piece. The scenes are so graphically detailed and descriptive it's easy to picture each scenario as they play off one another in perfect balance. Remarkable job Andrea, thanks for sharing this little guy with us.

[Topsues · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two sides to every story. Two sides to every person. Two sides to love.
How much emotional torment can one person survive ? How different this is from the Abel I perceived from the one in “The Koven Chronicles Series” which is Lizzie’s story and one I wouldn’t miss. Now to read the real story about why Abel kept disappearing and what secrets and hardships he hid was Heartbreaking. This is not a story with happy ending cliffhanger, but one of absolute no choice. After being enslaved from the age of 14 and the realisation of what happened to him after Lizzie & Nicole rescued him years ago (another must read is “The Mosaic Chronicles”) he went from one set of monsters to only realise he was still now held at peril by another . I don’t want to leave any spoilers. But what I can say that you will be on the edge of your seat and propping yours eyes open with matchsticks as the words and world Andrea Pearson has created. At the emotions she provokes in you and the undeniable thirst for her creativity, that will leave you constantly wanting more.

[Micki Miller]

Andrea Pearson has quickly become one of my favorite authors. Each book series features characters from previous books which makes it so much more interesting for me to read. Yet each series is also a stand alone set that can be read in just about any order. That to me is the sign of a very talented author. Shadow Prophets caught my interest from the first page and I had a very hard time putting the book down. This story was from Abel’s point of view and was in the same time period as the Koven Chronicles. The book really does a great job bring the character of Abel to life and it made me appreciate him so much more. I won’t give any spoilers but I highly recommend this book. And if you’re new to Andrea Pearson’s writings check her out on Facebook. She frequently posts and sends videos so I get to see the process of her books coming to life. Andrea Pearson will quickly become your favorite author too!!!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shadow Prophet is the start to a new series (and what a start it is!) that happens at the same time as the Koven Chronicles, just this time the story centers on and is being told by Abel. It’s darker than the author’s other books (it’s still not super dark), but that makes sense because Abel is a rather complex and intense character and the things he’s been through and is being made to do are really rough. The book reads fast, mainly because you won’t want to put it down. For people who have read the Koven Chronicles, it’s really interesting to get glimpse into Abel’s mind and start to understand why he acts the way he does. You don’t have to have read the other series first, though. This one can totally stand on it’s own. I highly recommend Shadow Prophet to people who like the author’s other books or enjoyed the Koven Chronicles or just like urban fantasy. You won’t be disappointed!