Hailey Maniates was a tall and beautiful third year grad student majoring in Biochemistry. One night, after returning to her lab, she is pursued by someone or something. Terrified, she runs through Golden Gate Park where she is rescued by a very tall homeless man. She can't understand it, but she can read his mind and she can feel his emotions. He sprints her to the hospital, and leaves her to explain her story. Even though Hailey thinks this is due to the shock from the trauma, the doctors feel it is something more. Hailey is put in a mental institution and is medicated for her hallucinations. She knows she's not crazy, and must find the very tall homeless man to find out what happened and get her many questions answered. What really did pursue Hailey? Why did she think she saw herself being chased through the attackers eyes? How could she feel the thought and emotions of the homeless "giant"? What was happening to her? Was she really just the crazy person her doctors diagnosed her to be?

I had read the second book of this series, "Powers", first, and was a little concerned that I may have ruined this first book. Not at all!! From the beginning, "Shade" pulled me in. Masterfully written, it's full of mystery and intrigue and heart-stopping, spine-tingling terror. Olson wrote a fantastic page-turner that scared the pants off me! His characters have depth and memorable qualities that I won't easily forget, nor will I be comfortable being alone in the dark for a long time to come!! ( )

This fast-paced novel keeps you on the edge of your seat with a wild chase through San Francisco and a glimpse of the underground Goth scene. John B. Olson melds faith, science, romance, and suspense in his novel, Shade.

UCSF graduate student Hailey Maniates' quiet life is suddenly interrupted by a powerful force she can't understand. Running away from a "monster", Hailey is attacked. She is saved by a homeless man named Melchi who delivers her to a hospital where she is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

The only way Hailey can prove her sanity is to find her knight in shining armor. With the help of her friend Boggs, Hailey is reunited with Melchi. He explains that Hailey is a child of The Standing, while he is a child of the prophecy. His job is to fight the Mulo, evil gypsy vampire-like creatures who have the ability to move into different bodies to achieve immortality.

Hailey finds herself torn between Melchi and a magnetic stranger, Sabazios Vladu. At the same time, Hailey must convince the world that she is not insane. She must learn to rely on her own beliefs and faith to overcome many challenges and help fulfill Melchi's prophecy. This is a classic good vs. evil story.

Recommended for teens and adults who enjoy Christian suspense with supernatural and romantic undertones. The themes of faith and redemption are also featured. ( )

Like other reviewers, I did have an issue when the book changed from a science fiction/fantasy novel to Christian fiction. Sure, there had been inklings throughout, but suddenly the whole timbre of the book changed...from just being good versus evil to being salvation versus damnation.

OK, so I still gave it 4 stars - I'm not opposed to Christian Fiction, I just prefer to know when I'm reading it. I thoroughly enjoyed the psychological conflict Hailey is experiencing trying to decide if Melchi is a lunatic or telling the truth - if she really saw and felt what she remembers or if it was all illusion. Some of this got very confusing at times, though - perhaps partly because of Olson's word choice at times.

In the end, though, all the people I assumed were good, were....and those I thought were evil, were. So the suspense sort of fell through toward the end. And, it kind of tied up in a nice little package too well, so I'm curious to take a look at his next book (which I'm getting as an Early Reviewer). I'm not totally sure if it's a sequel...I will read it anxiously, but if it is more of the same as the end of this book, I expect to tire quickly of it. Here's hoping it's more like the middle of Shade and not the end.

Still worth a read, if you like a mix of Christian Fiction and fantasy...Peretti fans should give it a try. ( )

Hailey, a graduate student in San Fransisco, is just trying to get away from the date that her temporary roommate tried to foist upon her, when she has an absolutely bizarre experience of feeling something coming after her which leaves her absolutely full of fear and hunger. Trying to escape, she is accosted in the park by a man with a knife. A homeless man, Melchi, saves her and brings her to the hospital, but when Hailey tries to explain to the doctors what's going on, they're convinced she has paranoid schizophrenia. She's not sure who to believe, but she's soon drawn into events smacking of the supernatural.

I picked this up to read before I receive the sequel from Early Reviewers. It's solid Christian suspense fiction, dominated by pace, and definitely worthy of the comparisons to Ted Dekker. Though the events are unbelievable after stepping back from the book, during the reading it's a scary adrenaline rush that had me reading it straight through all afternoon. ( )

Enjoyable if you like the suspenseful type of reading ( )