A fearful city lies in wait. Summer is here. The solstice is near. Each time the serial killer strikes there are two more victims. One woman has already disappeared. It’s only a matter of time before another woman is murdered.Homicide Detective Rachel Hood, a psychic empath, feels every ounce of a victim’s pain but is powerless to save her.Psychic FBI Agent Nick Draven is a skilled profiler, … a skilled profiler, specializing in occult crimes. Together, they must race against the clock to capture the psychopath terrorizing Snug Harbor, Ohio. Only one victim has escaped, but she can’t ID her attacker. What they do know is the sick signature the killer leaves behind. A handmade ragdoll crafted out of the previous victim’s clothes is found in the clutches of the deceased women.
Rachel’s obsession with the case deepens, and she devises a rogue plan to outsmart the killer. The risky plot puts her life in jeopardy. The serial killer has had years to master the crime. Nick only has hours to track down the killer and rescue Rachel before she dies in a ritualistic sacrifice at the hand of a knife wielding, blood thirsty murderer.
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Author MJ LaBeff takes readers on a chilling journey to catch a determined serial killer before the next summer solstice. Homicide detective Rachel Hood, and FBI agent Nick Draven are on the case to catch the killer and hope against hope to rescue several missing women they fear are the next victims, including Rachel’s beloved sister. Author LaBeff skillfully takes you back and forth from the killer’s twisted, torture driven perspective–to the heartbreak and determination of the detective and agent who are driven to end the murderous streak, and keep their reignited feelings for one another in check.
Psychic insights and dark family secrets provide unexpected twists and turns in this quest for a killer, and provide Rachel and Nick additional clues in catching the psychopath. Will they be in time to stop the next murder before the solstice? Or will the killer’s murderous streak now include them as victims? A chilling thriller that will keep you guessing until the end!
In the first of what will is now a four-book series of thrillers, M.J. LaBeff shows us what a gifted writer can do with the genre. She combines the standard thriller elements, right up to the end, but she also seamlessly adds elements detective fiction, mystery, and a large dose of horror. But that’s not all. LaBeff manages to embed occult practices and the supernatural in the highly complex plot. And, as we’ve come to expect from a good thriller, she grabs you early and doesn’t let up until the final scene.
Just under the surface of the main story line is the developing romance between the two main characters, Detective Rachel Hood and FBI Profiler Nick Draven. They’ve met before this adventure begins, and Nick is anxious to rekindle the feelings from that early encounter. Rachel is focused on solving the mystery and rescuing captive women—including her own sister—who are being held captive by a pathologically deranged killer. Add to that the fact that Rachel is a psychic empath who feels vividly and painfully the torture of each victim, even to the extent that bloody stab wounds actually appear on her flesh.
Rachel’s rebuffs to Nicks amorous suggestions cause Nick to increase his efforts to win her over. At times his actions border on the stereotypical male obsessed with seduction, but there’s much more to it than that. Like Rachel, Nick’s anything but typical. A highly skilled profiler and, just as importantly, he’s a witch, with secret paranormal skills of his own.
But here’s the thing. LaBeff manages to present these extraordinary characters as real people, with plenty of faults and missteps, and that makes them highly relatable. We like and root for them both, and we’re comfortably in their heads the whole time. In fact, we experience firsthand the feelings and thoughts of a number of characters in this story, including one of the victims, a priest of questionable moral character, and the crazed killer. All are more complex that they seem.
Despite the banter between Rachel and Nick early on, this is a dark story. And it’s so graphic in spots that Rachel’s wounds and the killer’s ritual torture are painful to look at. Yes, I said, “look at.” We see it all. LaBeff’s descriptions are so detailed and vivid that we can feel all the emotions, hold our breath at the danger, or crtinge at the horror of her scenes. She’s put us smack in the middle of things and shows us some of the dark underbelly of the world we live in but would rather not have to acknowledge. It takes a talented writer to pull that off, and M.J. LaBeff measures up.
I loved the crime thriller and paranormal mix of this page turner. MJ LaBeff blends witchcraft, psychic elements, religion and a little flirtatious romance all into one tale, making it not one of your ‘normal average’ crime thrillers. Detective Rachel Hood and FBI agent Nick Craven find themselves in a race against time to capture a serial killer who has come too close to home for the female detective. MJ’s ability to write graphic, creepy, suspenseful scenes builds a reader’s anticipation to an intense level, keeping one on edge and wondering what the next twist may bring. I could easily picture the characters and this book as a movie, and highly recommend it.