The Hunted Prequel to the Darkest Hand Trilogy

The Hunted (Prequel to the Darkest Hand Trilogy)

by Tarn Richardson
Kindle Edition, 48 pages
Published
April 25th, 2019 by RedDoor Publishing
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My rating: 3 of 5 stars
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Publishers Summary:

In the bustling streets of Sarajevo in June 1914, the dead body of a priest lies, head shattered by the impact of a fall from a building high above. As the city prepares for the arrival Archduke Franz Ferdinand, grim-faced inquisitor Tacit Poldek is faced not only with the challenge of discovering why the priest has been killed but also confronting other menaces: the demon rumoured to be at large in the city and the conspirators of the Black Hand organisation who plan to assassinate the Archduke. With terrible danger only ever one step away and his private demons silenced only by a strong drink, THE HUNTED introduces us to the damaged soul that is the unorthodox Catholic inquisitor Tacit Poldek. It is a world both like and unlike our own but in which the Inquisition, is alive and well yet existing in the shadows; in which history is poised to take dangerous and unpredictable paths; where evil assumes many horrific forms, from werewolves to the institutional slaughter of the trenches; and the threat to humanity (in all senses of the word) - and to love - is ever constant. THE HUNTED is the FREE prequel to Tarn Richardson's gritty and compelling DARKEST HAND TRILOGY featuring the brilliant but flawed inquisitor Tacit Poldek.

I was curious about The Hunted in the interim of waiting to be approved for an arc of The Damned*fingers crossed*. I liked it but I felt it a bit difficult to decipher what was happening. The characters were hard to follow but we eventually learn the name of the protagonist, Poldek Tacit.
He is simply called a priest but he resembles one who is tortured and finds comfort and relief in a bottle. Not priestly at all.

"Tacit is a shrewd detective in brooding troubled religious clothes."- from the companion to the hunted

Regardless, I thought The Hunted was a good start to the series. He is on a mission to stop Archduke Ferdinand from being assassinated by some man possessed by an evil entity. I don't know if he succeeds because the thing got away and in the sneak preview of The Damned it is revealed that Archduke gets shot in his motorcade and dies. *sigh. I am curious to follow up with this series. I'm a Catholic and I am familiar with the Church and sacramentals used in demon possession. Although I expect this series will portray the Church in a negative light just as Dan Brown's novels. P.S: BTW, I paid $1.72 :). Not free.

About the author

Tarn Richardson is the author of The Darkest Hand trilogy, published by Duckworth Overlook in Europe and Australia and Overlook Press in the US and Canada. Having grown up in Somerset, he now lives in Salisbury with his wife, the portraiture artist Caroline Richardson.

Visit his Goodreads page | website