Red Hot Books

I'll be honest. I went into this book fearing the worst. The last installment in this series left me wanting and I was afraid the best days of Cat & Bones were behind us. This book didn't quite measure up to the glory of the early books, but it was better than the last one.

It picks up shortly after where the events of This Side of the Grave left off. Cat is still carrying the residual effects of Marie Laveau's blood magic. And her uncle Don has appeared to her as a ghost. He can't move on to the hereafter, but no one knows why.

It doesn't take long for the book's big conflict to be revealed. Elizabeth, a ghostly friend of Fabian's, comes to Cat asking for help to destroy an evil spirit. His name is Kramer and he tortured and killed Elizabeth --as well as other women who he once branded as witches. It seems Kramer has developed a lot of power in the hundreds of years since his death. He uses that strength to adopt a mortal body every Halloween to continue his attacks on innocent women. Of course, Cat can't turn down Elizabeth's plea. And the rest of the story follows Cat and Bones as they work to bring Kramer down.

One of the ways the last book fell short was the lack of action, but that's not the case here. The story moves at a fast pace and there is some tension generated by the threat from the Kramer. The unbridled passion, discovery, and angst once featured in the Cat and Bones relationship are gone. In their place is now a deep and abiding love between them... Love, trust and an unbreakable faith. Their relationship is different now. And by necessity, I guess, it takes a backseat to the main story arc. It's hard to make married love sexy.

Many of the series' great supporting cast of characters are here: Charles and Denise are featured heavily... We also have Ian, Justina, Tate and Don. And speaking of Don: there is a side story featuring him and a dastardly new character, Madigan, who is taking over Cat's old unit. It seemed like Frost was going somewhere with this, but it never really came together. Maybe it will be resolved in the next book. A little more than 4 stars.

P.S. I'm dying for that Vlad book.