Shadows of the Past 
By E.A. Jensen
ISBN: 9781432787967

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Dawn

Synopsis: 

Even in the shadows, her past haunts her

For five years, Kirsa Heinrich has tried to leave her past behind. Yet in a blink of an eye it all comes back to haunt her. A call from her old boss informs her that a series of heinous murders has occurred in her hometown. Each victim is protected under the Paranormal Laws, each one killed in a different manner. At each scene a cryptic message is left for Kirsa. Now Kirsa has to face her own past in order to solve the crimes. Ayden O’Brian is a member of an elite group of Vampires that work for the Vampire Council. He has been handed a case that hints at a traitor in their midst, one who is giving secrets to their biggest enemy. When the information that is being leaked pertains to Kirsa and her family’s connection to thecouncil, Ayden is sent to New Jersey to help Kirsa solve the case. Together they will unlock a long hidden secret about Kirsa’s family and an old war between vampires. For within the past, they will discover the secret to the traitor and the person responsible for the killings. (Amazon)

Review:

I was excited to read the book based on the back cover summary. The book began by jumping right into the action. I was engrossed with the story by page 2.

By page 7, I was confused. At that point, 8 characters had been introduced (but not developed). I was overwhelmed by the number of characters, I could not keep them straight.

Kirsa is an OPIA (Occult and Paranormal Investigation Agency) agent. She’s one of their top agents as she holds the rare status of International Agent. She’s sarcastic, highly intelligent and she has an impressive core of inner strength which she developed after she lost her parents. I loved her almost instantly. Ayden is her bad-ass Shadow aka bodyguard. He’s one of the best as well. I liked him instantly. He put Kirsa first and watching their love grow was intensely satisfying.

The meat of the story, the heart of it, is very interesting. The Vampire Council, the hierarchy, the laws, all of it was incredibly fascinating. Jensen created a world of vampire politics.

It’s very intricate but engrossing. The past and present intertwine so much so that when the point of view changed, I was lost. There was no new chapter or name attached to the points of view. I would be in Kirsa’s head and suddenly I’d be in another character’s head. The transitions were not there which made the changing points of view confusing.

I was more distracted by the grammar, spelling and punctuation errors. Sadly, those errors took away from the story. I cannot count on both hands and feet how many errors I found.

The first few errors, I shrugged and hoped it was limited to those. As the story progressed they got worse. The mistakes became annoying.

Examples:
“and through it at Ayden” (should be threw)
Impress should have been impressed
Your should have been you’re
Not should have been note
Reason should have been reasons
etc…..
“That” would be in sentences two to three times.

I don’t understand how the book got published in this condition.

That said, Shadows of the Past has great potential. I have never written a review this negative and I have difficulty doing so now. Despite my complaints, I finished the book because I wanted to know more about Kirsa and Ayden. Normally, I would have discarded the book within the first few chapters due to editing errors, but I was compelled to finish – it says a lot about the story.

The plot is complex and the whodunit was fun. I didn’t see “who dun it” for a while and I was stunned when it was revealed. The amount of treachery involved was brilliant. I couldn’t figure out who to trust other than Kirsa and Ayden.

Breakdown of stars:
Overall: 2 out of 5
The heart of the story: 4 out of 5 stars
Editing: 1 out of 5 stars if that’s possible (and yes that’s a negative.)
Character development: 2 out of 5 stars. Kirsa and Ayden were very well developed.

I hope the next book doesn’t have the issues I’ve mentioned because I really want to read it.

P.S. I love the name Kirsa. I’d never heard it before, but Jensen wrote the meaning as “intelligent and kind”. It fits her perfectly.