The Mote in Andrea’s Eye
David Niall Wilson
Five Star, Jun 2006, $25.95
ISBN 1594144532

It was watching her father die during a hurricane when she was just a child that motivated Andrea Jamieson to become a scientist studying storms. Currently she heads Operation Stormfury studying how to prevent or lessen the impact of oceanic fed storms on land. She works with her lover flier Phil Wicks, a former US Navy pilot. His prime mission is to drop silver iodide on hurricanes.

They are currently tracking a horrific storm over the Devil’s Triangle heading towards North Carolina Phil flies towards the torrent, but when he makes his approach to drop the silver iodide, he vanishes along with the storm. Stunned Andrea tries to track what happened to her beloved who simply vanished somewhere apparently into nowhere along with the lost storm at sea or elsewhere.

THE MOTE IN ANDREA’S EYE is a terrific fantasy romantic mystery that grips the readers starting with the action of the storm and never slows down as the audience switches from adrenalin pumping to pondering what is going on with David Niall Wilson’s superb thriller. Andrea and Phil is a fine couple, who as partners and as individuals make the plot seem real. Mr. Wilson writes a fantastic thriller that fans of nature out of control tales will want to read and hope Hollywood will film it.

Harriet Klausner

Again
Sharon Cullars
Kensington Brava, May 2006, $14.00
ISBN: 0758213700

In 1880 New York, Joseph knew the moment he had waited for while grieving over the past month had arrived. Charlie is crossing the Hudson to Manhattan where Joseph plans to kill him for murdering his beloved Rachel one month ago. Then he will kill himself for he has lived the last thirty days waiting for vengeance.

In present day Chicago at her sister April’s wedding to Donell, reporter Tyne Jensen sees the hunk with emerald dyes who looks familiar though she swears she would never forget such a handsome man. Across the crowded room David Carvelli feels someone beautiful looking at him as if she knows him; he believes he would never forget someone as beautiful as Tyne. Like in a dream they meet one another with both wondering when they met before. David and Tyne begin to see one another and fall in love. However, neither realizes why déjà vu occurs whenever they look into one another eyes or kiss. This fine couple obviously belongs together, but someone wants her dead. If they fail to learn the lessons of their personal history then history will repeat itself as what happened to them in 1880 will happen to them in 2006.

AGAIN is a tense heated reincarnation romantic suspense that grips the audience with its opening scene in 1880, holds readers’ attention as the two lead Strangers in the Night cannot resist one another, and keeps hold of the audience until the final relational triangle is completed. The story line is filled with torrid romance and danger as Tyne and David fall in love, but unless they can understand their history, kismet will repeat itself as they are doomed to fail. Sharon Cullars provides a fabulously hot thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Smoke and Ashes
Tanya Huff
Daw, Jun 2006, $24.95, 400 pp.
ISBN: 0756403472

It has been almost two months since Tony Foster fought any supernatural entities so he enjoys the respite especially with his promotion to the Trainee Assistant Director on the set of Darkest Night, a TV show starring a vampire detective. Tony finds life ironic that he works on a vampire show when his lover, best friend, and father figure Henry Fitzroy (baseborn son of King Henry VIII) is a real vampire.

Tony’s hiatus from the supernatural ends when he learns from stunt woman Leah Barrett who doubles as a Demongate keeping her demon out of our world that the Demon Convergence has begun. It is a time when energies are moving is such a way that the barriers between earth and the Hells are penetrable. Leah is 3500 years old and because her demon master miscast a spell she has been protected and he unable to breach the “walls”. If he gains access as it seems likely he will, the demon master will dominate the world of humanity. His minions are coming for Leah and Tony, who still remains a tyro when it comes to using his wizard powers. With the help of friends like Henry, Tony knows he will stand brave and strong trying to stop the demon horde.

The hero has changed from a street hustler and prostitute to a courageous person willing to die to keep his friends and his world safe. This superb urban fantasy is at times funny, but mostly dramatic as there is plenty of action especially as Tony learns how to use his skills as he wars with demon assassins sent to kill Leah, considered by her kind as a traitor. Tanya Huff writes a spellbinding fascinating tale that fans of Laurell K. Hamilton and Jim Dresden will enjoy.

Harriet Klausner

Sorcerer
James Byron Huggins
Whitaker House, April 2006, $12.99
ISBN: 0883688182

After almost a quarter of a century as a Special Forces Officer and a police detective, Michael Thorn takes an early retirement to spend his time with his family. He buys a mansion in Cedar Ridge, Massachusetts thirty miles from Salem but on his very first night in their new home, Thorn hears a funny noise in the basement.

When he knocks down the wall where the noise is coming from Thorn finds a skeleton with silver manacles around his hands and writing on them. When the police arrive the skeleton is missing. The local priest feels that something evil was here and soon they figure out that the skeleton was that of Jannes, the magician of Egypt defeated by Moses. The sorcerer made a pact eons ago with a demon of immense power and now that he is free, he intends to rule just like he did in Ancient Egypt. Priests, nuns, the Assassini warriors of the church and Thorn work together to defeat this evil but are the faith of God’s warriors strong enough to defeat this undead sorcerer?

This novel is a fantastic supernatural good vs. evil thriller in which the antagonist uses dark magic while the heroes counter with the power of prayer. Thorn is an amazing protagonist who calmly accepts the fact that he will have to fight a supernatural evil that has seen many civilizations rise and fall. There are plenty of battle scenes but the best part of SORCERER is the characters. The humans are very realistic and portrayed as ordinary people called to do something that could get them killed yet all are willing to do so in order that evil doesn’t gain a stronger foothold on earth than it already has. James Byron Huggins’ message to his readers, cleverly imbued in the storyline, is that with faith all things are possible

Harriet Klausner

Widdershins
Charles De Lint
Tor, May 2006, $27.95
ISBN: 0765312859

After playing the fiddle at a gig in a mall with her band The Knotted Cord, Lizzie Mahone begins to go home but a horde of vicious males dwarfs known as Bogans assault her with an intent to rape her, but she is rescued. Afterward, Lizzie buries a deer that the mean spirited Bogans had killed. Her simple action angers the observing fairies, but the deer’s father Walker appreciates her reverent gesture.

Meanwhile in Newford, Knotted Cord fiddler Geordie Riddell is seeing seer Mother Crone while his best friend artist Jilly Coppercorn, the Broken Girl in a wheelchair since a hit-and-run incident, breaks up with her boyfriend nurse Daniel. Jilly joins the band temporarily while member Siobhan’s broken wrist heals. However, fairies abduct Jilly and Lizzie taking them to the woodlands “in-between”. There the two females find themselves trying to prevent a coming species war with ethnic cleansing being the goal on both sides.

Though the various races and family trees are complex and difficult to keep track of who’s who, fans of the series will fully appreciate this strong alternate reality fantasy. North America as always has never been the same since Charles de Lint introduced readers to the Newford chronicles and this tale that uses the relationship between Jilly and Geordie (everyone knows they are attracted to each other except them) as a backdrop adds to the fabulous saga. From start to finish this is a strong exhilarating stand alone (yet adds to the myth) Newford adventure that readers will fully appreciate as Mr. de Lint is at his best escorting the audience down the WIDDERSHINS.

Harriet Klausner

Kindred Spirit
John Passarella
Pocket, Jun 2006, $7.99, 400 pp.
ISBN: 0743484800

Growing up identical twins Heather and Hallie Moore were best friends who could communicate telepathically. However everything changed between them when they were ten and Heather fell from a tree. Unconscious for a week, when she finally awakened from her coma, the siblings no longer could mentally communicate.

Years later, Hallie is a TV news reporter while Heather, married to Tom Galloway and with a son Shane, runs a gift basket business from her home. On her way home, someone violently murders Heather stunning her spouse, son and especially her sibling. One year later, Hallie visits the murder site. There she touches a cross that marks the exact locale; Hallie visualizes Heather’s final seconds and when she returns to the present she holds her late twin’s locket that vanished when Heather was killed. Believing the killer is nearby and feeling her sister is with her, Hallie begins to investigate the murder of her twin even as the killer begins a plan to murder the surviving sister.

Renowned for his frightening horror tales (see the bewitching Wither trilogy), John Passarella provides his scariest book yet with the exhilarating paranormal amateur sleuth tale KINDRED SPIRITS because readers will believe in the connection between the twins even from beyond. The action-packed story line moves rather quickly forward as Hallie investigates the now cold case homicide of her sibling who seems to send her warning messages to be careful. While the support cast especially the heroine’s nephew and brother-in-law adds depth to the feel of another impending tragedy, it is the fascinating sisterly link that makes this superior mystical thriller worth reading.

Harriet klausner

Kindred Spirit
John Passarella
Pocket, Jun 2006, $7.99, 400 pp.
ISBN: 0743484800

Growing up identical twins Heather and Hallie Moore were best friends who could communicate telepathically. However everything changed between them when they were ten and Heather fell from a tree. Unconscious for a week, when she finally awakened from her coma, the siblings no longer could mentally communicate.

Years later, Hallie is a TV news reporter while Heather, married to Tom Galloway and with a son Shane, runs a gift basket business from her home. On her way home, someone violently murders Heather stunning her spouse, son and especially her sibling. One year later, Hallie visits the murder site. There she touches a cross that marks the exact locale; Hallie visualizes Heather’s final seconds and when she returns to the present she holds her late twin’s locket that vanished when Heather was killed. Believing the killer is nearby and feeling her sister is with her, Hallie begins to investigate the murder of her twin even as the killer begins a plan to murder the surviving sister.

Renowned for his frightening horror tales (see the bewitching Wither trilogy), John Passarella provides his scariest book yet with the exhilarating paranormal amateur sleuth tale KINDRED SPIRITS because readers will believe in the connection between the twins even from beyond. The action-packed story line moves rather quickly forward as Hallie investigates the now cold case homicide of her sibling who seems to send her warning messages to be careful. While the support cast especially the heroine’s nephew and brother-in-law adds depth to the feel of another impending tragedy, it is the fascinating sisterly link that makes this superior mystical thriller worth reading.

Megan’s Mark
Lora Leigh
Berkley, May 2006, $6.99
ISBN: 0425209644

In 2023 New Mexico Sheriff’s Deputy Megan Fields patrols a lonely part of the desert. She likes this area because she is unable to control her empathic skills and rarely runs into anyone in this remote area. She senses trouble and soon finds a vehicle with two people dead inside. Someone starts shooting at her. Lion breed (mix of lion DNA into human DNA) Braden Arness helps expedite Megan from the mess though she does not trust a breed especially one who just bit her.

The next day inside Sheriff Lance’s office, Braden sees Megan and becomes instantly hard and jealous when he senses her arousal, though he is not sure who the male is. Braden insists that the Coyotes who killed the two breeds wanted Megan dead as she was the target. He will stay by her side to protect her though she tells him to get lost as she fears her attraction to Braden as she gave up on sex years ago; it is hard to enjoy anything when you hear the inner thoughts and fantasies of one’s partner. As they fall in love and he already marked her with his bite as his, a powerful deadly enemy wants her dead.

This entertaining romantic science fiction suspense will remind the audience of KITTY AND THE MIDNIGHT HOUR by Carrie Vaughn and MaryJanice Davidson’s DERIK’S BANE as this futuristic world filled with “Breeds” seems “normal”. The paranormal elements blend smoothly into the exciting story line and the lead couple make a fine pairing though society forbids a relationship between a half breed and a purebred. Though some readers will be turned off by too much profanity and the lead female denies she is in love too often, sub-genre readers will appreciate this delightful thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Doppelganger
David Stahler Jr.
Eos, May 2006, $16.99 272 pp.
ISBN: 0060872322

In their natural form they are hideous monsters who are shapeshifters taking the form of the person they kill. They have no conscience and they live among us without us being aware of it. They can’t hold their assumed shape indefinitely so when they revert to their natural form they leave behind people who never know what happened to those who disappeared. One doppelganger (they have no names) has just been kicked out of his home by his mother and the first person he kills is a wino who wants to die.

In that form he reaches Bakersville where a high school football star Chris Parker beats on him until he kills him and takes the teen’s form. He takes over Chris’ life and notices that “his” father verbally abuses and physically hits “his” younger sister Echo. He wonders who the real monster is as he tries to protect Echo and maintain a relationship with Amber who he has come to love. He makes a place for himself but he knows that it can’t be permanent because he will shift back into his natural form soon.

DOPPELGANGER is a fantastic young adult urban fantasy in which the one who calls himself a monster regrets what he has to do while his human “father” is the real fiend who abuses those he should cherish. The doppelganger is an interesting creature who is unlike the rest of his race because he doesn’t like to kill, wants to know love and other good human emotions, and genuinely cares about the Parker females. Amber is his biggest regret because he knows that in the near future he will lose her but he also realizes “you’ve got to accept the best of a bad situation”, which in his case is his entire life.

Harriet Klausner

Druid’s Sword
Sara Douglass
Tor, May 2006, $27.95, 606 pp.
ISBN 0765305437

The Troy Game, a work of sorcery that is supposed to protect a city, has taken on a life of its own in the form of a woman known as Catling. She wants to complete the game and now that the creator Major Jack Skelton, who has been reincarnated through several lifetimes, has returned to London that can now happen. Jack, once known as Brutus and who saw Troy fall, knows that if he finishes the game, The Land of Faerie and Great Britain will be under her evil rule.

Other people reincarnated in this lifetime (the fall of 1939) that are part of the game include Jack’s former wife Norah and his one-time enemy Asterion the Minotaur now known as Weyland Orr. While Jack searches for a weakness in the game he notices a shadow hanging over London’s skies that only Norah and Waylin’s daughter Grace can also see. Jack finds himself very attracted to Grace in a way he never was with her mother but Catling has puts a hex onGrace causing her great pain at certain intervals to insure they will complete the Game. The shadow represents a new player in the land, one that Grace knows intimately but whose identity will shock her and Jack as neither is sure of its true motives. If they guess wrong, the lands of two realms are doomed.

In the conclusion to the Troy Game Saga, Sara Douglass ties up all the loose ends, and gives readers a satisfying conclusion to one of the best historical fantasy sagas to come along in ages. Brutus aka Jack is finally at piece after almost four millennia of turmoil and the audience will like the man he has become. Great characterizations, a sense of continuity from the other three books in this series and a great storyline make DRUID’S SWORD worthy of a place on the best seller list.

Harriet Klausner