Stake Out by Lily Luchesi – Book Review

Book: Stake Out

(Paranormal Detectives Book #1)

Author: Lily Luchesi

Publisher: Vamptasy Publishing

Publishing Date: 19 May 2015

Synopsis:

Detective Danny Mancini is on a case, following a murder suspect. When he catches him, he finds out that the perp isn't even human: he's a 200 year old rogue vampire!

The department doesn't believe him, and puts him on early retirement, despite his many years of service to the Chicago Police Department, which sends him into a downward spiral.

Two years later, Danny gets an invitation from the beautiful, young and very attractive Detective Angelica Cross to join a secret branch of the FBI to help her track down Vincent, the wayward vamp.

But renegade werewolves, meddling immortal witches and Danny's strange visions of a life lived a century ago with Angelica make things more difficult than it should be.

Book Review by Nadaness In Motion

Stake Out by Lily Luchesi is the first paranormal, romance and crime novella in the Paranormal Detectives series.

Easily read in one sitting, the book is fast-paced, action-packed and highly enjoyable.

It opens with detective Daniel – Danny - Mancini surviving an encounter with a man named Vincent, whom we learn is a 200-year old vampire. After submitting his report of the incident, Danny is forced into an early retirement. Two years later, he is approached by a beautiful young-looking woman, claiming she is from a lesser known FBI division called the Paranormal Investigative Division (PID).

The woman, Angelica, tells Daniel that what he had seen two years prior was true and that the PID is responsible for weeding out dangerous paranormal creatures, like Vincent. Danny struggles to come to terms with these revelations, but accepts to help Angelica catch the rogue vampire. The two slowly become attracted to one another, igniting a bit of a romance, which has deeper roots than the reader expects.

Stake Out is fairly gritty but nonetheless exciting with likable characters. I liked how the reader got the viewpoints and flashbacks of various characters throughout the book.

"He knew that Angelica would personally kill him if he did anything to compromise the investigation. Her body might be 24, but her mind was older and more cunning than even Gandalf!"

I loved the use of songs at the beginning of each chapter, which gave the novella a Gothic feel. 

Luchesi did a great job with character development for Mancini and Angelica, especially as both of them have a history and begin to create a new history together. There is enough character development to show that Angelica isn't rash, while at the same time leaving some space for further development in the coming books.

I liked how Luchesi was to the point in Stake Out, while also keeping the reader on edge by feeding us bits and pieces of history about Angelica, Vincent and even Danny and the PID. I also liked how she had me guessing at events, many of which proved true and others I had to wait for the revelation.

I also liked how Stake Out has a closed and open ending at the same time, prompting the reader to want to know what happens in later books.

Overall, Stake Out by Lily Luchesi kept me glued to the Kindle screen till I finished it.

Overall rating: 5 stars. I definitely would love to pick up the next books in the series.

Note: I received a free copy of Stake Out from its author Lily Luchesi in exchange for an honest review.