Shadow Walker
Allyson James
Berkley, Jun 7 2011, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425241820

In a high speed chase Sheriff Nash Jones pursues Janet Begay. However his SUV and her motorcycle fall through a suddenly humongous sinkhole filled with magic and ghosts. With no storms nearby that she can tap into and with Nash apparently unconscious, she tries to mentally call out to her lover Mick Burns the dragon Firewalker and her Crossroads Hotel manager Cassandra the Wiccan for rescue.

Mick frees the trapped pair. Ted Wingate the new Hopi County safety inspector insists the historical hotel is unsafe. Hybrid Apache-hell goddess Gabrielle covets Janet's Stormwalker power so she starts with an assault of the hotel. At the same time a Shadow Walker seeks her and Mick who apparently has become enthralled as a slave to an evil witch. Janet knows all the tsuris she and her friends suddenly face is caused by the Shadow Walker.

This is a great Stormwalker romantic urban fantasy though the emphasis is dramatically on the life and death struggles. Fast-paced yet very twisty, the story line bewitches the audience even more than the Shadow Walker does Mick. Set aside time as Allyson James provides sub-genre fans with one of the best entries of the year.

Harriet Klausner