Imagine if your first breaths of life had come at the tip of a bloody hanger. The product of a failed abortion. Left for dead in a cold dark alley amidst the trash and vermin. Rescued by an old woman.

At the age of two, you tumbled down a flight of concrete stairs and emerged unscathed. At the age of eight, you were run down by a speeding Cadillac, the old ones -- you remember, the ones they made with steel--and suffered not a scratch.

At sixteen the old woman died and you cursed God for taking away the only good thing in your life.

At eighteen, you drove a car off a cliff at eighty five miles an hour on the German autobahn and you walked away with -- a headache.

Imagine being fed up with God and life.

Imagine being so disgusted you put a gun to your head and blew your brains out.

Imagine waking up three days later in a hospital room in perfect health.

Were Angels watching over you? Surely it must be so…

But why?

Demon Hunter is the epic tale of Elijah Garland, a young man who has come to the decision that his life was never meant to be. Convinced that love and happiness will only be found in death, he ends his life. But when he awakens 3 days later, framed for murder, he finds out that his life has only just begun and that there was a reason for all of the tragic events in his life. He learns that there is a single being directly responsible for all of his misery- a misery designed to strengthen his soul for the ultimate goal of his true reason for being.

Will Elijah be able to overcome his faithless existence and place his trust in a God he feels has abandoned him? Or will he succumb to the powerful temptations of evil? And what is this ultimate purpose he has been singled aside for? All this Elijah must learn and learn fast, for the FBI is hot on his trail and dark things are now hell bent on his demise.

The key to Elijah Garland's future may well rest within the hands of the beautiful Ebonee Lane, the FBI Agent he finds himself falling for and whose single purpose is to bring him in.

True love is trump, but whose hand will deal this powerful card?

These things remain to be seen, but one thing is for certain for Elijah Garland and all around him:

Dark days await….

Good vs Evil

Elijah Garland is tired of life as he knows it.  Just as he experiences some kind of happiness, something happens to take it away from him. It's as if he isn't meant to be anything other than miserable and alone.  It is in that misery that he finally accepts his fate, accepts defeat and shoots himself in the head, taking his own life.  One wonders how all of that comes to pass in the first few pages of DEMON HUNTER by T. L. Gardner, but only one who hasn't read previous work by this talented young author.

Instead of death being the end for Elijah, he wakes up in the hospital days later without any apparent damages.  His mother and sister are happy to see him alive, but the doctors and the police don't quite understand the "hows" of his recovery and want to run tests and interrogate him.  Elijah doesn't question it too much either.  He just makes a run for it and eventually it is revealed to him that he has been chosen from birth to right some of the wrongs in the world, to take battle against the forces of darkness (demons, minions, and even Lucifer himself) who are trying to take over their world.  With his twin swords Enobe and Soul Seeker, he sets out on the mission.  He is "The Protector" and he uses his past pain and rage to guide him on his journey.

Being chased by the police, he encounters FBI Agent Ebonee Lane to whom he immediately feels an attraction.  She is undercover on a case which she finds has some connection to Elijah and just as she thinks she knows what's going on, everything around her changes and she ends up fighting for her life.  Through both their travels and the battles with the human and supernatural forces around them, they are tested on love, faith, and the meaning of life. 

DEMON HUNTER is a mesmerizing and emotional trek through the landscape of good and evil, love and hatred, life and death.   T. L. Gardner is an exceptional writer who gives the reader a well-paced story, solid characters, vivid imagery, and witty dialogue.

Reviewed by Tee C. Royal
of RAWSISTAZ.com