So the Hunters series is a bit of a spinoff, still in the same world as the Thieves, but focusing more on characters who were previously secondary. (Except our heroine, she is brand new.) It has been so long since I read the first five Thieves books, that it really took me to the start of Addict to remember exactly what happened in the earlier stories.

Ripper takes place about 10 years after Steal the Night, and the triad of Daniel/Zoey/Dev now have three thriving mischievous children. Daniel Donovan is still the king of vampires, and Dev still runs the night club, Ether. Zoey played a bit of a backseat in this installment, but we did get a peak at Bris, the fertility god sharing Dev's body.

The new heroine emerging is Kelsey Atwood, who is somewhat in hiding as a private investigator. When I say she is in hiding, I mean she is in hiding from the reputation of her father, who hunted shapeshifters. Kelsey did not have a good childhood with this cold and brutal man, but luckily she has a very close relationship with her two brothers and mother. When Kelsey is pulled into an investigation into a missing doe shifter, instincts that she has been suppressing for ten years.

Kelsey runs head first (literally) into sexy Texas Ranger, Grayson Sloane, who also happens to be her brother's best friend. Something between the pair feels natural and right, and it seems their investigations are going in the same direction. Sloane was certainly an appealing hero, but there was an inkling that something wasn't quite right and it kept me from connecting with him fully. He was not a big player in previous books, so this is really our first look at his character. However Kelsey also feels a very strong draw to ancient vampire, Marcus Vorenus. Marcus is a favorite of mine since early on in the series, so I naturally felt a bigger draw to his character. Something about his loneliness and somewhat bleak outlook on his future struck a note with me and I really wanted him to find his HEA.

It was interesting to see Daniel come off as kind of the bad guy in this installment after all the hero-worship of him I was doing in earlier books. The action was steady and interesting, and tied into the previous storyline well. The situation between Sloane and Kelsey was a bit heartbreaking, and I was left at odds at the end of the story, not knowing how to feel. This caused me to go off my reading schedule and jump right into the next book, Addict.

5 stars / 3 flames. Reviewed in conjunction with [b:Addict|24683871|Addict (Hunter, #2; Thieves, #7)|Lexi Blake|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1435206278s/24683871.jpg|44301310]. Reviews will be posted at Bambi Unbridled on Feb. 27, 2016. ( )