Stealing Shadows (Shadows Trilogy) (originale 2000; edizione 2000)

Stealing Shadows
4 Stars

Synopsis:
Cassie Neil is a psychic who helps the police capture killers until the day she makes a mistake and feels compelled to live a quieter life. Unfortunately, Cassie's new home is being stalked by a murderer but no one believes her until the bodies start piling up.

Review:
Well-written with several twists and turns to keep you guessing.
The plot appears to be your typical serial killer fare but the climax turns out to be quite a shocker. For once, I was unable to guess the killer even though there are definitely sufficient clues. This might be because I was distracted (in a good way) by the romantic and paranormal aspects of the story.

The psychic elements are believable perhaps due to the fact that a main character has his doubts concerning the heroine’s abilities. He is eventually convinced by the evidence and becomes a staunch believer, thereby mimicking the readers experience and allowing for suspension of disbelief.

The primary romance builds slowly but develops into an intense and captivating relationship. Cassie is extremely strong willed and keeps herself at a distance, which can be irritating at times but is clearly consistent with the nature of her psychic abilities. Ben is attractive and sensitive but not without his own flaws, which he must overcome to save Cassie’s life.

The development of the minor characters is one of the details that draw you into the story because the women, who are easy to identify with and care about, are potential victims while the men are possible suspects. One of the few flaws in the book is that the killer’s motivation is not sufficiently developed and it would have been better to have more information about what makes him tick.

Overall, this is an entertaining and suspenseful read and I look forward to reading the next book in the series. ( )

http://joriesreads.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/kay-hoopers-bishopspecial-crimes-uni... ( )

This book was recommended to me by a friend, and I really enjoyed it. It is about a psychic who tries to help the police solve crimes by connecting to the minds of the killers. It was really well written and I enjoyed the quick pace and reading about the main character Cassie, the psychic.

I'd certainly read another of her books, my only problem now is deciding whether to add her remaining books to my TBR (to be read) pile.

I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys tv shows such as 'Medium' or who enjoys reading crime with a psychic or paranormal twist. ( )

Good story, well-written and interesting. It's a little too grim for me, though - I'm not into serial murderers, even with psychic powers in the mix. It definitely read like there was a backstory to Bishop, but apparently this was his intro. I rather like Cassie and I really like Ben - Kay Hooper managed to take the romance-standard tropes of 'overwhelming attraction' and 'one person hurt makes the other admit love' and put some very nice twists on them. Ben and his walls were major factors in both the romance and the mystery - not stuck in just for one aspect of the story. Overall, very nicely done - glad I read it. Oddly enough, I seem to have read it before - I rated it - but I didn't remember it at all. No, I seem to have rated all my Hoopers. ( )

A Bookring book. I read it quickly and passed it along. ( )