Gus wakes up in a dark void with no memory and no body. Screaming and cursing does him no good. He’s trapped, until he learns about one man who can help.Joe Cavelli is a PI who hears ghosts, solves their murders, and sometimes fixes their personal problems. Now he finds himself pestered by an invisible, impatient, and brash amnesiac.Solving cases for ghosts comes with a unique set of … set of circumstances. This time, Joe can’t even claim to be investigating a murder, since Gus’s body is nowhere to be found. Together, Joe and Gus delve into Gus’s past, uncovering clues that lead to a startling conclusion.
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I’ve been so excited to read Out of the Darkness since I read the first novel. Darcia Helle’s writing is just as fantastic as it was the first time around, and she’s crafted another unique story that still has the familiar vibe she created in Into the Light.
Joe is back and his character has grown. I absolutely love his development along the way and he feels like an old friend.
The adventure Joe and Gus depart on is fast-paced and thrilling. It’s everything I’d hoped it would be. I highly recommend checking this one out!
I had a lot of fun reading Out Of The Darkness. I was worried going into it that I hadn’t read the first book but had no problems jumping in here.
There’s some funny situations that had me chuckling out loud. From the blurb, it’s revealed that P.I. Joe Cavelli can hear ghosts. He can’t see them though, so when Gus makes impromptu visits and starts cursing like a drunken sailor, he’s always jumping out of his skin.
Gus is a ghost with amnesia. He doesn’t know what happened to him and he doesn’t know why he keeps getting pulled into a place of pure darkness. He sure doesn’t lack for creative ways to string cuss words into one long sentence. Not a patient guy and he pesters Joe to get to the bottom of things.
The humor really made this work for me. Another thing that did was how the story was presented. You get Joe’s side of things. Then you get Gus’s. It works really well when Joe is investigating what happened to Gus. The two collaborate and start to get a gist of what occurred.
What hinders the investigation’s momentum is when Gus is suddenly pulled back to the dark place at what seems to him to be inappropriate times and without warning. Except, it doesn’t remain dark and Gus once again resorts to stringing his curse words together as he tries to sort through the soup of information revealed to him. I do want to mention that, while Gus can cuss up a storm, you don’t actually read those words. It’s more of an implied thing.
Back to earlier when I mentioned not having read the first book and having no trouble jumping in here. Joe mentioned not knowing why he can hear ghosts so I’m thinking that might be discovered in a future book. And Max was referred to a few times. I gathered that he was the ghost that Joe helped in the first book. While I didn’t feel like I missed anything important by not knowing more about him, I was intrigued and went ahead and added book one to my reading list. I enjoyed this book so much and really grew fond of the character’s and I wanted to read about how it all began.
To wrap up my review I’ll chat about my rating. I knew this was at least a four star experience for me. What earned it five was the writing. Throughout the book there were these small sentences that seemed to be just dropped in. They made me pause and think how authentic they felt. How I wished I’d thought of them. Things like that are something I look for and the author made them appear so casual yet they made the story feel very real. Kudos to Darcia for sealing the deal with me.
Private Investigator Joe Cavelli has gotten used to hearing voices.
That the voices belong to spirits no longer among the living isn’t a biggie either. He knows a gift he’d buried in childhood has a purpose and is part of who he is and his own personal destiny. Joe assists ghosts (if you will) with solving the mystery behind their demise or tying up loose ends from their lives before they move on to the next realm. Sometimes tears are shed, and emotions run high, but Joe is left with a sense of satisfaction and peace.
His wife, brother and best friend are privy to Joe’s sideline… and life goes on. No pun intended.
Until Angus “Gus” Smith arrives.
Gus is rude, foul-mouthed, obnoxious, pushy, sarcastic… and just plain mean.
He was guided to Joe by Max (spirit number one) but he has nothing else to tell Joe. How he died, why he died or where his body is.
Just that he keeps ending up the dark place.
With absolutely no trail to follow, Joe walks a fine line piecing together the life of Angus Smith. With each new bit of information Joe finds, bits of Gus’ memory return, making him even angrier.
But with the help of Everett and his endless game of Clue, the stern Leah and far-out and funky Martin, Mystical Matrix Magician Sebastian, harmonizers Avis and Siva, and even one of the men who attacked him, Gus comes to understand his anger is hindering Joe’s investigation, and his own ability to escape the dark place.
Gus’ new sense of acceptance and direction bring plot twists with them that are jaw-dropping. I’d finally gotten over (mostly) learning about Uncle Leo’s slaughtered meat… and the secret ingredient, to learn the root cause behind Gus’ condition was even more evil and disgusting… and Gus wasn’t even aware of it.
Stellar writing and complex characters make this page-turner also a study in enlightenment—not new age or anything like that—but into ourselves.
We live with the premise things we say can and do hurt others, but Out of Darkness shows how we can do just as much—if not more—damage to ourselves with our own words and emotions.
Joe’s wife, Alexis, gets gold stars for being the supportive wife of the millennium. His assistant, Tia, is priceless and all too happy to join in the paranormal investigation, and I may even kinda, sorta like Det. Nolan… a little.
This read is definitely a wild ride with a fantastic ending I recommend to everyone.
All parties are guilty of something… just not what you think.
Enjoy!
‘Out of the Darkness’ is book 2 in Darcie Helle’s Paranormal PI series. ‘Into the Light’, book 1, was a great goodread and this book is even better. Ms. Helle’s writing is humorous and heartwarming. Her PI, Joe Cavelli, is like no other with his ability to talk to ghosts. I recommend reading ‘Into the Light’ first and then ‘Into the Darkness’ for a refreshing take on a PI helping troubled clients.
I loved this story!
Joe, a PI, can also talk to ghosts and when Gus contacts him, his sleuthing begins.
This fast-paced, well-written tale is brimming with mystery – both within this world and beyond. It has action, goodies, baddies, humour in all the right places and great characters and plot.
There are lessons to learn and an injection of wisdom that is certainly thought-provoking.
A superb read and highly recommended.