My Thoughts on Veil of Shadows: Shunned Immortal—Book 1, by Jake Skelton, 4/20/2026…

I was a little unimpressed with Veil of Shadows: Shunned Immortal—Book 1, by Jake Skelton, when I was reading the beginning of the book. As usual with many of the urban fantasies and mysteries I read, I became more interested as the book went along, and had a good opinion of it when I finished.

The layup is that Angus Savage used to work for the Fae, more specifically, the Caretakers—the keepers of the veil between human reality and faerie reality—as a magic-using bodyguard, until he was kicked out. Gus is five hundred years old, so it was unclear if he was ejected back then or closer to the present. I guess his history will further unfold as the series goes along.

Vampires are a big part of this episode as well. The usual undead suspects, with their usual strengths and weaknesses—nothing new or unique was presented about these guys; Skelton just stuck to the basic mythology, but did a fine job doing so.

And when there are vampires, there is blood. Lots of it. Gus spent a goodly amount of his time battling these creatures in well-paced, violent action sequences. With Savage being the first-person narrator of this tale, he feared for his life more times than not, and, as a result, you could, at times, feel the vamps closing in, their teeth and claws snapping. That’s what I like most about first-person narratives: much of the action therein feels immediate; at least in good ones, anyway. And VOS is a very good example.

I’ve already acquired the second book in this series and placed it in a good spot in my TBR list. Needless to say, I recommend it, especially to fans of urban fantasy, mysteries, and horror.