Holly Lisle, Night Echoes

Night Echoes

Holly Lisle

Signet, Apr 2007, $6.99

ISBN: 0451220943

With the death of her adoptive father following that of her adoptive mom, artist Emma Beck decides there is nothing left for her in Wisconsin so she buys a dilapidated Civil-War-era house in Benina, South Carolina, the hometown of her late biological mother. Her objective is to learn more about her roots.

However, Emma is stunned by the attraction between her and Mike Ruhl, the contractor she hired to fix the house. For some reason it feels as if the duo have already shared intimacy although they just met. Even scarier is the fact he looks identical to a visage she has used in some of her paintings. Emma becomes more frightened by noises and a phantom cat that seems to vanish into thin air. When she goes to meet two friends of her late mom, Emma is horrified to find two corpses. As Mike uncovers documents in the attic, he begins to believe that he and Emma are caught in some sort of action from beyond just like her parents were a few decades ago.

NIGHT ECHOES is a fabulous haunted house (town?) romantic suspense that will elate fans of the supernatural as well as those who like some heat between the lead (human) characters. The storyline is fast-paced as Emma and Mike fall in love to the backdrop of increasingly frightening supernatural happenings that both insist cannot occur. Fans of paranormal romantic suspense and horror readers will fully appreciate Holly Lisle's superb chiller.

Harriet Klausner