From the Publisher
In the tradition of Laurell K. Hamilton, and just in time for Halloween, a deliciously wicked sequel to Bitten, from Canada’s new queen of suspense.
Even though she’s the world’s only female werewolf, Elena Michaels is just a regular girl at heart -- with larger than normal appetites. She sticks to three feasts a day, loves long runs in the moonlight, and has a lover who is unbelievably frustrating yet all the more sexy for his dark side. Like every regular girl, she certainly doesn’t believe in witches. Then again, when two small, ridiculously feminine women manage to hurl her against a wall, and then save her from the hunters on her tail, Elena realizes that maybe there are more things in heaven and earth than she’s dreamt of.
Vampires, demons, shamans, witches -- in Stolen they all exist, and they’re all under attack. An obsessed tycoon with a sick curiosity is well on his way to amassing a private collection of supernaturals, and plans to harness their powers for himself -- even if it means killing them. For Elena, kidnapped and imprisoned deep underground, separated from her Pack, unable to tell her friends from her enemies, choosing the right allies is a matter of life and death.
From another edition.
Publishers Weekly
Elena Michaels, the only known female werewolf, cavorts on a more fully cultivated supernatural playing field in this sure-footed follow-up to Bitten (2001). While investigating a suspicious notice advertising information for sale about werewolves, Elena meets witches Paige and Ruth Winterbourne-and, to her misfortune, a team of mortal and supernatural commandos who abduct Elena and Ruth to a remote underground bunker in the wilds of Maine. There Ty Winsloe, "billionaire and computer geek extraordinaire," is collecting a menagerie representing all the supernatural species that coexist anonymously with humanity (vampires, werewolves, witches, etc.). While his scientists study such creatures in the hope of distilling their uncanny powers as salable commodities, Winsloe hunts those captives who have outlived their usefulness in cruel most-dangerous-game fashion. Elena's efforts to outsmart Winsloe long enough to apprise her Pack of her whereabouts are complicated by a werewolf wannabe among the captors. Though the tale is pretty much a prison-break story spiffed up with magic, Armstrong leavens the narrative with brisk action and intriguing dollops of werewolf culture that suggest a complex and richly imagined anthropologic backstory. The sassy, pumped-up Elena makes a perfect hardboiled horror heroine, with enough engaging attitude to compensate for the loose ends left untied to set up her next adventure. Agent, Helen Heller. (June) Forecast: This novel will please not only horror fans but also mainstream readers who like strong female characters. The tasteful jacket art, suggesting both the supernatural and romantic aspects of the book, will attract this wider audience. Warner Bros. having optioned Bitten, to star Angelina Jolie, will contribute to the buzz. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Having destroyed the "mutt" menace in Bitten, Book I of Armstrong's "Women of the Underworld" series, the werewolf Pack is now faced with a similar threat. This time it's self-serving humans bent on kidnapping supernatural creatures like werewolves, witches, and demons and using their powers for nefarious purposes. As the only female werewolf in existence, Elena is a prime target, and despite her caution she is "stolen" right from under the nose of the Pack Alpha. Awakening in the depths of a remote fortress amidst a strange collection of paranormals and mentally ill jailers, Elena realizes that her chances of escape are slim. With her werewolf strength and cunning, however, she manages to "convince" others to help her plan a breakout. Meanwhile, the Pack males circle impotently around the compound perimeter waiting for her to make a move. In a predictable escape scene even more violent than the one in the previous adventure, orchestrated by shattering glass, severed body parts, and moronic dialog, Elena and her males wreak havoc on evil humanity. Evoking an action comic book, this will appeal mainly to television viewers who tire of commercials long enough to bother reading. Not recommended. [For another novel on supernatural creatures, see Andrew Fox's Fat White Vampire Blues, reviewed on p. 155.-Ed.]-Jennifer Baker, Seattle P.L. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Sequel to Bitten (2001), about a girl nipped by a nasty-well, psychopathic-but handsome werewolf, Clayton Danvers, whom she takes as her lover once she turns into the only living female werewolf. In this second in the series, Elena Michaels discovers, as did Hamlet, that there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, etc.-that, in fact, there are witches, half-demons, necromancers, sorcerers, shamans-and, gosh, vampires. Here, things begin with a new version of the oft-filmed The Most Dangerous Game, in which a millionaire traps humans to use them as quarry in a hunt, they being the most dangerous game. Only this time it's Tyler Winsloe, billionaire and computer geek extraordinaire, who traps "otherworld" beings and keeps them in a very advanced glass prison deep in the Maine woods. At first he has only a shaman (who escapes but is ripped apart by rottweilers as he leaves his body), two witches, and a sorcerer who works for him and guides him to prey. Winsloe's idea of great fun is to trap a werewolf, study it for a while, then free it to be hunted, although he is also privately amassing the world's greatest collection of supernaturals. Is it foregone that he'll trap, then hunt, Elena? Well, does a full moon cause Jack Nicholson to change? Elena finds herself trapped by two witches who warn her that Winsloe is onto all the otherworld races, not just werewolves; the witches then save her when Winsloe's henchmen try a kidnap. Much Darwinian classification of the varied species precedes Elena's capture and imprisonment, then all that follows. Richly done.
