March 21, 2016
Excessive gore and a useless heroine define Eden’s first Shadow Unit novel. After passionate anonymous sex in a Belize jungle, Jes is left devastated by her lover’s dismissive behavior—and pregnant. Jes marries the first man to come along, and his abusive nature soon manifests. His involvement in an evil paranormal plot and threats against her half-wolf daughter lead her to the secret Shadow Unit. Assigned to protect Jes and her daughter is none other than Draven, alpha jerk and werewolf, who soon recognizes Jes as his mate and sets about winning her heart. The basic paranormal fight against an evil secret organization is not new, and neither are the purple prose and gradually reformed hero. More novel, but in no way appealing, are the scenes filled with almost gleeful violence (“The worms ate away at her,” Eden writes with relish) and a heroine who inspires disdain for her indecisiveness and self-pity. Eden too often settles for shock value, and readers who make it through the book will be dismayed by its cliff-hanger ending.