The Slayer's Apprentice

Title: The Slayer's Apprentice
Author: Zathyn Priest
Series: N/A
Rating: 4/5 stars
Review:

This is a really complex story, and I'm having trouble summarizing it without giving something away. So, I've borrowed the summary from the book's page. (I did not write this summary. It belongs to whomever originally wrote it.)
When Senior Constable Daniel Hart stops bartender Phoenix Love from picking his pocket one evening, it's an inauspicious beginning, but Daniel falls for the beautiful Phoenix anyway. Things become complicated when Detective Paul Somerset, who's been on the trail of Australia's notorious serial killer "The Crucifix Slayer", sets his sights on Phoenix. 
Convinced that Phoenix Love is the killer, Detective Somerset pursues him single-mindedly. As evidence, and Phoenix's behavior, point toward Somerset being right, Daniel must protect their fledgling love affair, his own heart and his lover while  deciphering whether or not Phoenix actually is the killer. Is Phoenix Love a victim or is his love affair with Daniel doomed to fall at the whims of a monster?

The characters in Priest's novel are extremely complex. Both of the main characters are deep and well thought out. Phoenix in particular is very hard to read and must've taken an immense amount of time to write. I applaud Priest's effort with these characters - he created two completely unique characters that I've never seen anything like.

The plot of this novel was really good. It definitely leaned more towards a mystery novel than a romance and I'm glad. I'm not a big fan of cheesy romance novels and this was able to satisfy my appetite for a romance novel and a mystery novel at the same time. However, it wasn’t all good. There were three or four chapters that were nothing but info dumps. An anonymous narrator gave us the facts of things that happened, and these parts were extremely boring and I kept skimming those parts. They weren't extremely long and did progress the story, but I wish Priest had found a better way to tell this information.

Overall, I'm glad I read this novel. It did seem rather long during certain parts, but during others it seemed really short. This is a good novel for people who want to read a romance novel, but don't want some cheesy superficial story. Though the story doesn't contain sex, I wouldn't recommend reading this if you're under the age of about 15-16 since the story line is very graphic and violent.

(Sorry for posting this late. I got distracted forgot I wrote it. :x)