The Beast of Rose Valley

Lorestalker, Book 1

By: J.P. Barnett

Narrated by: Katherine Cook

Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Something evil stalks the citizens of Rose Valley - not for the first time...but hopefully for the last.

After suffering a horrific car accident, Jake Rollins struggles to survive in his tiny hometown of Rose Valley - a place to which he hoped never to return.

When a sheep is viciously mutilated on the ranch where Jake is recovering, he's dragged back into the cloying politics of small-town life. While the sheriff tries to pass off the incident as the work of coyotes, Jake turns to Shandi Mason, a local reporter and old high school flame, to search for the truth.

They discover that this creature has stalked Rose Valley before, claiming nearly a century of carnage and intrigue, all starting with a shameful secret guarded over by one of the town's most respected citizens.

As livestock mutilations escalate into deadly attacks on humans, and the sheriff organizes a foolhardy manhunt, Jake and Shandi must race to save the town from a seemingly unstoppable evil.

©2019 Evolved Publishing LLC (P)2019 Evolved Publishing LLC

Cryptid at its best

I’m not sure where to start. Words do not do it justice. I loved this book. So much so that after buying the paperback, I bought the audiobook. I loved the whole mystery behind the beast. I had so many emotions reading this. I felt compassion at times for the beast, scared at others. Especially driving to work at night on a deserted road in the country surrounded by woods. The hero and heroine were great. All the characters were. I loved the story behind the beast and was sad about how he came together. But it was also an interesting take on the making of it. The sheriff, Cam, was one of my favorites. The author really knows how to tell a story and keep your interest. I liked the romance parts. They were just right with not too much to distract from the main story. If you are a reader who wants the main story with no romance, you would still love this. My favorite part was how the school changed their mascot from Jaguars to The Beasts.

The narrator was ok but I wasn’t crazy about her male voices. Her voice just wasn’t deep enough or didn’t have the right pitch. But it wasn’t bad enough that it took me out of the story.

Looking forward to the book 2

Story moves along at a good pace with enough character development, backstory, and science fiction to engage the reader (but not too much). Plenty of suspense and action with just enough horror and gore to satiate those hoping to encounter that. From developer to author, JP excels once again. Kudos to Katherine for the narration.

Awesome book, great characters, want more

Loved everything about this book. Characters are easy to get into and the story goes at just the right clip to make this a page turner you can’t put down. I was so happy and relieved to see that it’s going to be a series. Can’t wait to read the rest!

A great start to an entire series!

A fast paced realistic supernatural story!! It was very easy to fall into the fictional world of Rose Valley and it’s characters. This could EASILY be a movie that readers would flock to. I’m an avid re-reader and this one will be read several times!! The narrator did a great job, I’m ready for book 2!!!