One of my all-time favorite romances is Dark Prince by Christine Feehan. Since then I’ve read other novels from Christine’s Carpathian series and for the most part enjoyed them although the stories and the characters seemed to be identical. But then I walked away from the series when I noticed her heroes were becoming too unbalanced. These male characters were far too obsessed with the heroine, and regardless of her wants, they claimed her as their own, almost forcing her to bend to their will, or in many cases not taking no for an answer. And then when I read Dark Secret (Carpathian # 15) and the hero, from my point of view, ends up raping the heroine into accept him, that was when I had enough.

Dark Predator is the 22nd book in the Carpathian series. After reading the blurb, I thought why don’t I reintroduce myself to this world and see how far Christine has come with her characters and the immortal vampire-esc man who literally don’t feel or only see in black and white until that special woman comes along to save their souls? These men then hunger not only for the heroine’s tender, most often times, virgin flesh, but they see rainbows, stars and green clovers, and quite possibly the little leprechaun man from the Lucky Charms cereal. When a Carpathian male finds his mate, it’s like he’s tripping on acid.

As I read Dark Predator, I grew worried and very concerned. This book is alarming on so many levels and it reads more like an anti-romance. The hero, Zacarias comes across more like a psychotic villain than having the attributes of a hero. When all was said in done, not only did I want to throw this book against the wall, but I wanted to torch it and write my first angry letter ever to an author, shocked that Christine would write such a thing. Having a hero who attacks, throws the heroine around, threatens her with torture, rape and death just because she saves his life, including other shocking acts against her emotionally and physically is where I wonder, what in the world was the author thinking when she wrote this?

If you’ve read a Feehan Carpathian novel before then you know the basis of the characters, mainly with the heroes. The hero this time, and I use that label very loosely, is Zacarias De La Crus. He’s an immortal who feels nothing and has pitiless gaze, but fights against his enemy alongside his brothers, who have all found their mates and can enjoy life in blinding Technicolor. But not Zacarias. He’s a cold blooded killer who’s close to turning into a full blown vampire. Zacarias already has many vampire traits and because of that he will kill himself, die with honor and let the sun fry him to a crisp before he goes insane. As he’s flying as some sort of bird to find a place to die, he notices a woman riding a horse. Her name is Marguarita Fernandez, whose her family has served the De La Cruz forever. Marguarita comes across him and drags him into her home to save him from dying. She’s going to wish she galloped on by, because with his beady eyed stare of hate and anger, he will punisher her. During this exchange the reader are privy to Zacarias’s thoughts about Marguarita’s disobedience.

You will regret your disobedience, he vowed, and he would promise a brutal retaliation against Marguarita for saving him.

Marguarita has the ability to calm animals, especially horses, but not the animal Zacarias. And she’s now in for a world of hurt because Zacarias is furious at her for what she has done. She’s aware he could break her, but she doesn’t care. She just had to save him. And then when the sun sets, that’s where Dark Predator comes across more as a serial killer horror story.

Zacarias’s unstable nature and the violence he acts upon Marguarita had my jaw dropping far too many times to count as I read. When Zacarias awakens, he’s consumed with taking Marguarita’s innocence and her life’s essence, basically draining her of her blood and leaving her for dead. For some reason Marguarita has gone to sleep even with the deranged Zacarias in her house. He storms her bedroom, and as she’s huddled in a corner, he attacks her. She deserves to be terrified because of her saving him, and she’s the sole reason to make him turn into a vampire. She’s also to blame for putting herself and her family at risk and the reason for him going mad.

How about an example of how Zacarias punishes Marguarita for her insolence?

“She struggled wildly and he pinned her with one arm and caught her thick rope of hair with the other, crushing the silken strands in his fist as he jerked her head back. He lowered his head toward the sweet vulnerable spot where her pulse pounded so frantically. He didn’t try to calm her mind or in any way control her knowledge of what was happening. He wanted her to know. He wanted her fear. He intended to hurt her so she would never forget why she should obey.”

Can we say WTF?? He doesn’t rape her body, but rapes her mind. And as he ravages her throat, he’ll make her suffer, basically ruining her mind instead, because he’s justified. Why? Because of who he is and his belief that she wronged him, again BY SAVING HIS LIFE AND DOING AN UNSELFISH AND KIND THING.

“Zacarias sank his teeth deep into that soft, defenseless flesh. He bit hard, without a numbing agent, puncturing her neck deliberately close to her throat. She should have remembered the vampire attacking her. She shouldn’t have been so careless as to disobey. She needed another lesson in just what a dangerous, uncaring vile creature could do.”

Another one of many WTFs in this book. Marguarita was attacked in a past book by a vampire who tore out her voice box. She can no longer speak. Zacarias wants her to remember her violent attack by this creature through by him as a form of punishment. And as stated in the excerpt above, Zacarias has no qualms about what he’s doing and finds enjoyment in hurting and being vile to Marguarita.

“He wanted obedience from her, not stark, raw fear. Well…he’d wanted her to be afraid- to learn her lesson. Fear was simply a tool to him, one he wielded easily.”

“He’d been careful to go slow as he might approach a wild creature, but she ducked slightly as though she expected him to strike her. The idea was ludicrous. He would never hit her.”

Can someone explain to me what the difference is between old fashioned fear to raw, stalk fear? Zacarias wants Marguarita to fear him, but not totally fear him to the point she’s a shaking, mumbling mess. What a way to make the woman you’ll end up loving tremble. But not tremble in passion, but in soul and body numbing fear.

And he’s confused that Marguarita would duck from him because even though he’s done so many horrible things to her mind and body already, he would never think to hit her. Can we say Zacarias is a raging lunatic?

There are so many more passage like this riddled throughout this book. This isn’t a love story or a romance in any shape or form. Christine Feehan should be ashamed to have written such a thing. The violence against Marguarita from Zacarias is consistent throughout the entire novel. Even after info dumping galore and reasons given why Zacarias has acted the way he has against Margarita, is no valid explanation for why he has brutalized her.

“Never once in all his existence had he ever entertained the idea of taking a woman without consent. Never considered burying his body deep in a woman doing whatever he wanted with her-until that moment.”

This is where Zacarias is close to raping Marguarita not with his mind, but with his body as yet another way to punish her for her saving his life.

Words escape me about this book. How can an author justify her reasoning for writing a character like Zacarias and insulting the reader’s intelligence this way? Do readers really enjoy reading about a character like Zacarias who abuse the heroine so horribly? And I wish I could sympathize with Marguarita, but she’s not only a doormat, but a perfect example of what an abuse woman is.

Dark Predator highlights what pure unadulterated spousal abuse would be with Zacarias and Marguarita, and I’m sickened by it. Also, the violence against women here is massive, including when the villains come along and beat Marguarita and her female neighbor within an inch of their lives. This isn’t a love story or a romance, and if anyone says it is, I’ll argue you with. A hero who treats the heroine worst that a dog is not a healthy story and insulting to the romance genre as a whole.

I will never read another book by Christine Feehan because of how she has glorified and romanticized violence and abuse against women in the form of a romance novel called Dark Predator.