Heart of Evil

I have read a few of Heather Graham's novels in the past and have enjoyed a great deal of her books.  When I picked up this novel, I had such high hopes for it, but those hopes feel real short.  The story focuses on Ashley Donegal, who's family plantation is known for dining, atmosphere and legends.  They play host to re-enactments from the Civil War.  After one of these enactments a corpse shows up in the same situation.  She turns to a team of paranormal investigators which includes a previous love interest.  As the continue to investigate they find secrets buried deep within the plantation.  Will they be able to unravel these mysterious secrets. 

I found that this book seemed to fall short of the other books that I have read by Heather.  In this book the ghosts interact with the characters which is something that I have seen in the other books, but in this one it seemed everyone could see the ghosts not just a select few which seemed to take away from the feel of the book.  There are to many of them and the are too prominent in this book.  It is better when there is only one or two ghosts in the book but not a whole bunch.  It almost felt like being spoon fed everything rather than learning and developing as the story developed.  I almost didn't finish the book I felt so cheated. 

I have a huge fan of Heather Graham and have enjoyed many of her books in the past, I am dumbfounded at how much I disliked this book.  The writing almost did not feel like it was Heather writing it.  It felt completely different from the other book which had so much mystery and thrills in it where this one was almost predictable.  The romance in the book was incredibly cheesy and unrealistic.  The novel completely drags on and feels like it goes no where,  it so relentlessly slow that it took me months to read it rather than the day it normally takes me to read a novel.  I kept walking away from it, not feeling compelled to read it.  I kept with it because I had hoped it would get better, but it didn't.

While I would recommend Heather Graham's novels to other mystery lovers and those who like a paranormal aspect to their stories, I don't think I would recommend this one.  Sadly I give this novel a 1.5 out of 5.  This was far from one of Heather's better novels, and I do know they get better because I've read other books in the series.

The Night Alive by Heather Graham

Abigail has just finished her training at the FBI academy, and is awaiting her new assignment when she gets an odd message from her grandfather stating he needs her.  Upon her arrival she makes her way into the tunnels under her grandfather's tavern where she finds the body of her grandfather.  With a string of murders in the area, Abby believes someone killed him and asked for help from the FBI.  They sent her a consultant to help investigate the crimes, and then the Krewe Unit.  There is something that makes this unit special, they all have paranormal attributes, Abby herself can see the dead.  She believes it is just her ancestor the pirate Blue Anderson, but there are more.  The investigation begins to hit close to home when they discover all the victims have one thing in common....the tavern.  With tunnels traveling throughout Savannah the killer can slip in and out without being noticed.  Someone is pretending to be a pirate and murdering innocent women, but not any pirate, Blue.  Will the team be able to find the killer before it is too late?

To say I couldn't put this novel down would be an understatement, I honestly had it with me everywhere I went trying to read it any chance I got.  There is something for everyone, mystery, suspense, romance, humor, even a little history.  I think one of my favorite characters is the ghost pirate himself, Blue.  He doesn't say much and he doesn't even appear much in the story, but even as a reader you just know he is there watching.  He is a presence that lingers throughout the novel.  I love it!  Abby is a smart strong woman that learns to trust her instinct and fight for what she believes it.  I found it hard to believe that she didn't piece together one of the most telling clues to the killer (nope won't tell you).  It was almost obvious to me as the reader, it should have been so to her.

Even though there were elements of predictability, it was a great story.  Graham weaves her tale beautifully and paced perfectly.  She tells it in a way that lures readers into the story the way the killer lured his victims into dark places.  I loved the use of tunnels under the city and pirate lore.  There were things I didn't like, people they used as suspects but others they didn't and I had to wonder why.  There is one big telling clue to the killer and no one figures it out until it is too late, as stated I couldn't understand why they couldn't figure it out.

Night Alive is the first book by Heather Graham that I have read, and I must say she gained a fan in me.  Something I did not realize was that it is a part of a series, but you don't need to read the other books to understand what is happening.  The Krewe Hunters are explained in this book, and made me want to read the other books in the series as well as other books by Graham.  I may end up needing a shelf dedicated to her the way I do for Ted Dekker and Sherrilyn Kenyon.  I give this book a rating of 4 out of 5 because there was too much predictability within the story.  I look forward to reading more of Graham's novels.