Book Review: Red Fox by Karina Halle

Red Fox (Experiments in Terror #2)

Karina Halle

Review of Darkhouse (Experiments in Terror #1)


Publication Date: June 13th 2011

Publisher: Metal Blonde Books

Pages: 300

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Paranormal

With Book Two of the Experiment in Terror Series, Perry Palomino and Dex Foray trade in the stormy Oregon coast for the unforgiving deserts of New Mexico.

In the for­got­ten town of Red Fox, a Navajo cou­ple is tor­tured by things unseen and by motives unknown. Wild ani­mals slink through their house in the dark, a bar­rage of stones pound their roof nightly, and muti­lated sheep car­casses are turn­ing up on their prop­erty. Armed with a cam­era and just enough to go on, Perry and Dex travel to the des­o­late locale, hop­ing to film the super­nat­ural occur­rences and add cred­i­bil­ity to their flail­ing web­cast. Only their show has a lot more work­ing against them than just grow­ing pains. Tested by dubi­ous ranch hands, a ghost from Dex’s past, and shapeshift­ing decep­tion, the ama­teur ghost hunters must learn to trust each other in order to fight the most ancient of myths…or die trying.

Red Fox finds itself along a very different paranormal path than Darkhouse. Perry and Dex find themselves in a completely different environment and facing a different kind of "evil". I will admit I did not enjoy this book as much as Darkhouse (I did spend about half of it screaming at the two of them to capture more footage), but that is not to say I didn't enjoy it, because enjoy it I did.

I really liked the use of Native American legends invoked this time, adding a layer of human treachery to paranormal evil. The plot twists and turns and kept me guessing until the very end, all while revealing that Perry and Dex are deeper than originally thought. Finding a bit about Dex's past was especially enjoyable. He's such a secretive man that prying anything from him is impossible. (And just to mention, you can cut Perry and Dex's sexual tension with a knife it's so thick).

On top of this the internet show's popularity is already in question. Her family things it's just meh and well Perry is fired from her job from assuming everything will be okay (which was a serious blow to myself since I make a lot of decisions like that). I think it as from the fear from them losing the show (one of my favourite aspects of the book) that had me screaming in my head at them most of the time.

I totally did not guess that Sarah was one of the bad guys and I feel absolutely dumb for not. In hindsight it was obvious she was not happy and that she was putting on an act, but the fact that she was a skinwalker took me by surprise. Also what is creepier than the idea of the skinwalker? Can be an animal or even take on the skin of a friend.

So though I missed the creepy ghosts and haunted stories, I really liked the incorporation of something different with the skinwalkers.

If you enjoyed Perry and Dex in Darkhouse you will enjoy them more in Red Fox. I seriously recommend this series to people who want something different out of paranormal fiction and characters types that haven't been overused. (Like Dex, who is such a butt and so secretive and so much like people in the real world).

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