I picked up the first book in this series expecting something mediocre -- instead, I found something ...not charming, but unpolished in a charming way. Sidesteps the typical ghost story tropes and gets into some scary stuff. Enjoyed the second book as much as I did the first, which is to say, it was kind of popcorn-ey but enjoyable enough to continue. ( )

No ghosts this time, skinwalkers instead. Not the nice kind like Mercy...

Perry is growing on me, Dex...even better than book one. I've already bought book three & ready to move on. ( )

Reread 2017
Reread 2015


_____(Original review 2014)_____

It had ghosts, skincrawlers, a small town, paranormal happenings, homicidal animals, annoying parents, a christian/navajo family, funny heroine, sexy male lead Dex, it's creepy and dark and sooo much more - it's kind of a crazy book all in al, but....

I really loved it anyway!

( )

Red Fox by Karina Halle
#2 in the Experiment in Terror series
★★★

Synopsis: 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.

My Thoughts: With this second installment of this series I am finding myself more intrigued by Perry's 'abilities'. Although her ghost seeing was not factored into this book she is becoming more of a complex person as we determine what it is about her that is making her so susceptible to the influence of the other world.

Dex, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be growing as a person but does seem to be evening out despite the fact that he admits in this book to not having an even keel on his emotions (read this as saying he is probably bi-polar). His attraction continues to miss me completely but I did find him less condescending towards Perry with his smarmy attitude and sleazy smiles being kept to a minimum in this book.

Perry and Dex continue to grow closer during the course of Red Fox but Perry's surprising admission (to herself) of love seems premature as they have only been together for a few days since they met a paltry month earlier.

The build up of suspense is quite good throughout the entire book but the ending had very little closure with the bad guys running for the hills and Dex and Perry running for home.

This ebook is offered as a great deal by Karina Halle, who self published this series. Don't let the term 'self published' keep you away from this series though. Unlike many self published books I've read (or attempted to read) I was never pulled out of this particular story by glaringly obvious spelling and grammar mistakes. This says to me that Halle is someone to be taken seriously in a booming industry and that she wants to make sure we are reading her best efforts.

With that said, even though I found this book to be average it was well worth the money I spent purchasing it. ( )

Not a dull moment reading the EIT series, whether I'm being scared out of my mind, or Perry has me scratching my head in confusion, or Dex is making me giddy and puzzled. One thing I was happy about was Dex and Perry finally getting a little closer and having a better understanding of each other. Oh how I wish they would trust each other but I suppose they would first need to be more open and honest. There is definitely some big secret in the past of these two clearly damaged people. Perry doesn't seem aware of her own secret so that might explain her flakiness. If a part of her memories are missing how can she deal with it? And Dex, he's an enigma for sure, in [b:Darkhouse|11356211|Darkhouse (Experiment in Terror, #1)|Karina Halle|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1360092374s/11356211.jpg|16286238] he mentioned in passing in a moment of anger that his parents are in hell, so that says a lot. Doesn't it?

The second book and the stories are still very scary, even more so and Red Fox certainly brought the scary. The Skinwalkers or Shapeshifter material were handled more....from a cultural angle than in a typical frivolous supernatural way. Halle delved more into the Navajo belief with her storytelling while taking some literary licenses.

Can't get enough of this series which to me is very unexpected since it took me some time to grasp the idea of Perry as a character. The way I saw her at first is not the way I see her now. I first saw her as an annoying always in her head scattered heroine. But before I was finished with the first book, I began to see her as very hilarious scatter brain heroine, LOL. Perry seems to have a supernatural gift she was unaware of most of her life and is yet to understand or embrace it no wonder shes scattered. Can't wait to learn more and understand her gift in future books. Anxious to see where Perry and Dex's ghost hunting takes them and their relationship. ( )