"An Intriguing Paranormal Romantic Suspense"
This novel was sent to me by the publisher. Not familiar
with the author, I didn't know what to expect so I had to go
by the cover info. As it turns out the author specializes in
romantic suspense but I wasn't aware of that. The spine said
paranormal romance which set my expectations in the wrong
direction. Don't get me wrong I enjoy romantic suspense when
I know that's what I'm getting. In the early pages of the book I wasn't sure I was going to
like it, as it read more like a straight up paranormal
murder mystery but as the book went on I was drawn in, in
spite of myself, partly to see how the mystery would pan out
and partly to see if the romance aspect would ever gel. It
did, however I would definitely classify this novel as
a dark paranormal romantic suspense rather than paranormal
romance
as the spine indicates. Readers should note that Vincent's
mission does not end with this tale. FBI Agent Vincent Valtrez has been called in on a possible
serial murder case in the last place he would ever want to
be assigned. The town is Eerie nestled in the Smoky
Mountains of Tennessee, the hometown where at age ten
Vincent had killed his demon father after witnessing the man
burn his angelic mother to death at the stake in the Black
Forest. Before his father died, he'd taunted Vincent, told
him he had bad blood just like his old man. This is
Vincent's second biggest fear. Those who entered the Black Forest rarely ever returned and
yet young Vincent had, dazed and confused. His parents were
never heard from again. Twenty years later Vincent had
accepted the darkness inside of him. He fought it on a daily
basis. He'd become an FBI agent because he understood the
criminal mind, the urge to kill, for he is a Demonborn Dark
Lord. And so he wanders from town to town, solving crimes,
and indulging his insatiable desires in mindless sex. His
one rule: never sleep with the same woman twice. Never, ever
risk falling in love. Not that the likes of him knew what
love was, not since his mother was murdered had he loved anyone. Now twenty years later he has been called back to the scene
of that crime, in an eclipse year no less. Bad things
happened in Eerie in the year of the eclipse, the year of
death. People died from unnatural causes and their spirits
roamed the town lost. Clarissa King knew all about that.
Descended from a family of female psychics, Clarissa heard
their mournful cries for help, cries that had driven her
mother insane until the woman had hung herself from the
Devil's Tree to stop the voices. Her mother's spirit had
warned Clarissa to hide her gift for her own safety. But
Clarissa was too compassionate. Though she'd been dubbed
"Crazy Clarissa" by the other children she had done her best
to help the lost souls of Eerie find their way to the light,
just as she'd once tried to intervene between Vincent and
his violent father. She'd been the only who had ever dared
stand up to the man. Now several young women in the town have died from various
unrelated causes, and not only does Clarissa believe they
were murdered, she also believes that the murders are
connected. Vincent is doubtful. All he wants to do is solve
the case and get out of this town as quickly as possible
before he can get too involved with Clarissa. No longer the
awkward girl who has once been his friend, she stirs desires
in him that go beyond his typical one night stand. The
sooner he is away from her the better, for both of their sakes. With the eclipse mere days away a new Dark Lord is due to
take over the underworld, Zion, Vincent's father. Pan the
god of terror hopes the curry his favor by presenting this
new ruler with the souls he has claimed. To do so he had
taken possession of a trusted individual and preyed on his
victim's biggest fears. This explains the disparity in their
causes of death. Only Clarissa is aware of this and she
must help these souls find the light before Pan can claim
them for his new master. To do so she needs Vincent's help.
Pan knows that the voices are Clarissa's biggest weakness
and she is Vincent's. Will he use her death to bring Vincent
over to the dark side to stand beside his father? Will
Zion's bad blood win out over the influence of Vincent's
mother's? The eclipse is at hand, time is running out....... Talk about suspense. I thought I knew which townsperson Pan
had possessed all along and I couldn't have been more wrong
or more surprised. Overall I thought the suspense aspect was
excellent. The romance wasn't bad but wasn't enough of a
focus to label the story a romance. Most of the time I felt
that the romantic
aspect could easily have been dropped and the story would
have been just as good. As it was the reader discovers at
the end how important Vincent's relationship with Clarissa
truly was. All and all INSATIABLE DESIRE grabbed and held my
attention. As I stated before though, Vincent's troubles
don't end here. Zion still has to be defeated and the next
story entitled DARK HUNGER brings in another Valtrez,
Quinton, who is a cold blooded assassin as well as a sexy
television
reporter named Annabelle Armstrong. Vincent must convince
Quinton to join with him to fight the evil that is to come.
I'm going to speculate that the reporter is somehow going to
be an important factor in Quinton's decision. Now that I know
what to expect, I'm looking forward to seeing how the story
progresses.
Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch
Posted January 2, 2009
|
