Kay Hooper Chill of Fear

Chill of Fear

Kay Hooper

Bantam, August 2005, $25.00 352 pp.

ISBN 0553803174

FBI agent Quentin Hayes belongs to the Special Crime Unit where all the members have at lease one psychic skill used as an additional tool in their arsenal against criminals. Quentin has been haunted for twenty years by the death of Missy, his playmate at the Lodge, a secluded resort that caters to clients who want their privacy. Every so often, Quentin returns to try to solve Missy's murder; this time he has a real chance of doing so because Diana Brisco is there too.

Diana has believed all her life she is insane because she hears voices, suffers blackouts and sees things that aren't there. When Quentin meets her he knows immediately that she is a medium and her years in a drug stupor to cure her condition were a waste of time. Gradually Diana begins to believe and trust Quentin especially when the ghost of a child that disappeared at the Lodge leads her to his bones allowing him to pass on. Missy and others prepare Diana to fight the evil that has lived on at The Lodge for over a century and to send it to a place where it can't come back.

In Kay Hooper's universe evil is a tangible force that can be reincarnated or if it is strong enough possess the living being who has a medium psychic ability. Recurring characters from previous books gives readers a sense of continuity while treating them to an exciting paranormal police procedural that gives new meaning to the word dead. The author draws the reader into the storyline and once there they can't leave because they want to see what happens next in this thrill a minute chilling fantastic reading experience.

Harriet Klausner