Soulless by Toni Hofman

I'm only .99 on AMAZON!!

3.5 rating 

This is a debut novel for this author and for the most part I thought it was very creative, original and engaging.  Definitely a great read for the tiny .99 price tag!!  The only reason for the slightly lower rating than what I would have liked to have given was because the writing was at times confusing. Especially with names... David was also Jason and switching back and forth between the names throughout the book had me a little lost on several occasions. I was also a little disappointed that we didn't get to be a part of the story where these two first met. The prologue really drew me in and I really, really wanted to know what happened and how they fell in love. I didn't really understand why he was so drawn to her. That might make a great novella... just a thought... :)
David is a great character and I had a great deal of empathy for him. He has to feed off of the energy of humans in order to survive. Even though he did not have to do it often... he felt guilty for the individuals who had to die because of him. It was something that he struggled with and he wants to find an alternative way to survive.
Alex is a detective who is searching for a serial killer. She is a strong female character who is determined to find justice for the victims. Having pegged David as a suspect, Alex becomes intertwined into the race of the soulless and is dealing with her owned mixed emotions of caring for a man who she may have to bring to justice. The victims are tortured... and some scenes are a little bit descriptive but not too bad. I will admit to not being a huge fan of serial killer stories in general so this part of the story was also a bit of a struggle for me.
There is a religious element to this story... but, not overwhelmingly so... the soulless see themselves as a creation of God but also superior to humans... one step up in the food chain.
The Soulless are a powerful race that live amongst humans in secrecy. The book focuses primarily on the power struggles that go on between the soulless families and David being caught in the middle of protecting his race vs. protecting the humans he loves.
The steam factor was a bit low... would have liked more intimate moments between David and Alex. We got that in the prologue and it never really came back.
I do think this is a pretty good start to a potentially great series... it was engaging enough to hold my interest to the end. It didn't end on a big cliffhanger... but, I got the impression that there is more to come. I would be interested in reading a second installment if there is one...

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author.