Far from gripping

I review a lot of books, and one of my main rules is not to read any other reviews before I have written mine, lest they influence my opinion. This is interesting; after I have submitted my review, it’s fascinating to see if my view tallies with other people’s. Usually it does.

I was a third of the way through Hunted by Rebecca Zanetti when I gave up and broke that rule. The book was a real struggle, and I just wanted to give up. I decided to see what some other reviews thought of it--if everyone else hated it, then it wasn’t worth persevering.

However, most of the other reviews appeared to really like the book. So I carried on, forcing myself to read a chapter now and then when I had some time before putting it down through boredom. I made it to halfway and then gave up for good--I just could not get on with this book.

The premise is interesting: Moira Dunne, a witch, has for one hundred years been the mate of a vampire Connlan Kayrs, although he’s left her alone for that entire time so that she can get used to the idea and grow into her powers. As soon as the century is up, Conn returns to seek Moira’s aid in the war he’s brewing against some other creatures of the night.

They seem to go from A to B looking for people/things, Moira has various discussions with her family of witches, other people go from A to B doing things, and that’s all that seems really to happen. There must be more to it than that, but by the halfway point I had lost the will to continue reading.

Author Rebecca Zanetti seems to have a reasonable way with words, and she has built an interesting world with a variety of characters. For this reviewer, at least, she has entirely failed to produce a gripping and entertaining book that I can’t put down. Instead, she has created a book that I can’t pick up.