Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Stalk the Dark by Debbie Cassidy Narrator: Sharon Freedman
Series: Oder of Helsing #1
Published by Tantor Audio on November 25, 2025
Genres: Fantasy Romance
Length: 9 hours, 56 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm
A Vampire King without a heart needs a watcher who guards hers dearly, but I didn’t expect that watcher to be me.
The Order of Helsing have protected the innocent from the Vampire King’s ravenous hunger and cruel games for centuries.
He can’t be killed.
He can’t be stopped.
Because this ancient being has no master.
Once every century he rises from his vampiric sleep to feed, and the Order assigns an operative to watch over him.
This century, I’m that watcher.
I can’t say I’m thrilled. I have a disgust for suckers, so babysitting the first of their kind is not on my to do list. But when the Order says jump, you don’t ask why.
Ezekiel’s cruel beauty makes him the perfect predator, able to reel in his prey with pretty words and promises. Tempering his hunger until he falls back into a vampire coma won’t be easy. Others have tried and failed.
I’m determined to avoid his kill list, and with the help of the two rogue vampire hunters assigned to assist me, I might just succeed.
But the more time I spend with Ezekiel the more I’m drawn to the darkness inside him, because there’s a darkness inside me too. One which I’ve hidden for as long as I can remember. But now that it wants to come out and play, I’m afraid it isn’t just his hunger I’ll need to temper, but also my own.
Every one hundred years the first vampire awakens for a year to feed, and this year Orina has been assigned by the Order of Helsing to be his watcher and protector. Stalk the Dark is the first book of a quartet in the Order of Helsing series, set in the same world as Cassidy’s other Demons of Morningstar series.
Orina has been seen in other books but this is the first where she is the main character. Sent to what looks like a medieval bubble world with carriages and castles, Orina must find a way to connect with the newly awoken vampire and try to keep him in check enough that he doesn’t go on a killing rampage. With the help of a few other order members and two vampire hunter brothers, she will try to keep the most dangerous vampire in check while also looking great for a ball.
I found the premise of the book to be really interesting. We start out with a bit of a mystery as the reader is set up to try and figure out why does Ezekiel sleep for 100 years and then wake for one year? Why is the order trying to both protect him and protect people from him? And what is going on at this order chapter that they have been left with too few operatives and given some extra challenges with the organization structure. The reader discovers the answers to some of these questions as Orina does while many mysteries are still left unclear and will flow into subsequent books.
Do you like reverse harems? I’m really on the fence when it comes to those and it is rare that one works for me long term (I didn’t realize this was going to have a possible harem). As this is the first book of the series, there is a lot of sexual tension between Orina and various characters with a set up of possibly three different love interests. I am struggling a bit with this aspect of the story for a few reasons. Right now Ezekiel is pretty monstrous, so it is extremely difficult to root for a romance between them. He kills with out much of a care for who it affects and he has a cruel streak even if at times he seems like he might be redeemable. The other romance interests are a pair of watcher brothers. I liked Ordell and Hemlock one affable and the other a bit grumpy. They have a great dichotomy between them, but then we run into the issue they are brothers and for me that means at least one of them should be out of the running, because brothers sharing a woman is a bit ick. Then there is Orina’s other issue of not being able to take a lover since she is in the order, so that whole forbidden wanting thing is happening at the moment.
I liked the side characters and the potential story lines. I struggled a bit with Orina as she made so many missteps in the story and almost got killed or got someone else killed a lot. For the girl that is supposed to kick butt and take names, she got her ass handed to her a lot. I’m definitely interested in the plot progression, especially after the revelations made near the end of the story. But I’m still not a huge fan of the romantic aspects of the story currently.
Narration:
Performance: ★★★★
Character Separation: ★★★
Diction: ★★★★
Pacing/Flow: ★★★★
Sound Effects: None
Sharon Freedman is a new to me narrator. She was a solid pick for Orina’s voice and PoV. There were a few times I lost track of who was talking with some of the male characters but other than that the performance was solid. I was able to listen at my usual 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Debbie Cassidy
Debbie Cassidy is a 39 year old multi-tasking ninja who lives in England, Bedfordshire, with her three kids and very supportive husband. Coffee and chocolate biscuits are her writing fuels of choice, and she is still working on getting that perfect tower of solitude built in her back garden. Debbie has been writing for eight years under the pen name Amos Cassidy with her best friend, Richard Amos, but Forest of Demons is her first solo venture, and the first book in a four book high fantasy saga.
You can connect with Debbie via her website at amoscassidyauthor.com. Check out her personal page and her other books under the pen name Amos Cassidy. You won’t be left without a great read while you wait for the next installment in the Forest of Demons saga.
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Very nice review. I’ll have to check this out. Sounds like something I’d like.
Her books have been hit and miss for me, but overall I usually have a good time. Hope you find a place to sneak it in.
I may skip this one. Maybe if book 2 is better!
Yes!!! I usually give the first books in series a lot of leeway and don’t start to really judge until the second book just so the author has time to set stuff up.