Kristi Bentz, daughter to New Orleans Detective Rick Bentz is heading back to college. She has enrolled as a student at All Saints College. A college that has been made famous not for the teachers or classes but because four women have all gone missing in a eighteen month span. The police believe the women are runaways.

Kristi wants to write a true crime novel. When she hears about the missing women, she decides to do some investigate work. Kristi learns that all of the women attended the same class with Dr. Dominic Grotto. Dr. Grotto teaches a class on vampyrism. One of Kristi's old classmates, Lucretia Stevens tells Kristi about how she suspects one of the girls...a Rylee was in a cult. Now Kristi is really intrigued. What is Dr. Grotto's connection to the missing women and could he be a vampire?

The only person Kristi can get to believe her that the women did not go missing on their own is her ex-boyfriend, Jay McKnight. As Kristi gets closer to uncovering the truth, it brings her just one more step closer to evil himself.

It was great to see Kristi and Rick Bentz back again. Detective Bentz is one of the most famous and one of my favorite detectives around. He may come off hard as nails but that is only because he really cares about the ones around him and would do everything he could to keep them protected. Lost Souls still featured Rick but this time he stepped out of the picture to let Kristi shine. Kristi definetly takes after her father. I liked this more supernatural approach that Mrs. Jackson took with Lost Souls but with still keeping in her usual fashion of producing a good thriller. All I have to say is when Rick Bentz is involved, no one inculding vampires stand a chance. Lost Souls leaves the reader with a cliff hanger that leading right into Malice the next book from Lisa. ( )

Not her best, by far. Actually a big disappointment! ( )

SUMMARY: The latest in Jackson's series revolving around the ever-expanding family of tragic heroine Faith Daniels finds Kristi Bentz, a secondary character from the previous installments, at the forefront. Recovered from a previous attack, Kristi decides to re-enroll at her alma mater, All Souls College, to further her aspirations of becoming a true crime writer. The fact that several female students have gone missing from the campus only intrigues her more.

WHY YOU'LL LIKE IT: Jackson has a knack for creating and developing likable heroines, and Kristi Bentz no different. As she was established in other books, it's nice to see her get a turn as a main character. Jackson endeavors to capture the gothic allure of New Orleans in these epic potboilers, and adequately succeeds.

WHY YOU WON'T: Despite the potential of this series, the plots have become formulaic and often ludicrous. How many serial killers can one family, disjointed or not, attract? Jackson's antagonists have become predictable and boring, whispering their bland threats into the ears of the reader, usually mixed with laughable profanity about his desire to violate sexually the protagonist; the killers are no longer distinguishable from each other and it's frankly impossible to care what their motives are or what drives them; it has become simply a matter of counting the bodies they leave in their wake until the inevitable concluding showdown. The romance scenes are pedantic and pejorative, and it's offensive to read the women of Jackson's novels become so besotted with their paramours that they become caricatures of themselves, not to mention the predilection the author has of shining the light of suspicion on said suitors, making her heroines' eventual submission all the more pathetic. Most aggravating is the heroines' penchant for putting themselves in harm's way (often planned) while not having taken the necessary precautions and thus requiring a man to ride to their rescue; regardless of self-defense training or that can of mace for which they never reach in time, it would be nice to see one of these women let someone know what they're up to and where they're going prior to racing off on a half-cocked 'mission'. The plotting is haphazard and shoddy, and the novel runs about one hundred-fifty pages too long with several redundant passages.

BOTTOM LINE: Jackson is a talented author with many illustrious works to her credit; this is not one of them. She's in danger of becoming generic in a genre in which she was once a leader. ( )

I was not impressed! It was a good idea for a book but the heroine was begging to be a victim - why didn't she work with the police? Why did her boyfriend investigate on his own and not work with the police? ( )

As a thriller this book serves its purpose. The killer might not be a unique spin on the serial killer archetype, but the

Four girls have gone missing at All Saints College, but none of their bodies have been found so the police can't call foul play. So instead we get Kristi Benz, two-time almost-victim and wannabe true crime writer, playing detective. I'm sorry to say this, but Kristi is TSTL (too stupid to live). Seriously, her motive for getting near a serial killer, even though she knows the danger, is so she can write about it. Doesn't she know the best true crime novel, IN COLD BLOOD, was written after the killers were behind bars?

While Kristi's motive may be dumb, it's straightforward. Unfortunately, Vlad's interest in Kristi is inexplicable. He seems to have a history with her, but she certainly doesn't recognize him. (Perhaps I'm missing something from an earlier book - I've never read any of Jackson's work before.) Also, his victims are all "lost souls," girls without close friends or family. Serial killers tend to be picky. So why would Vlad be interested in a woman with a loving father (who happens to be a famous detective) and a close boyfriend?

I cannot condemn the book though. Even with my dislike of the protagonist, Jackson kept me turning the pages. LOST SOULS is a serviceable thriller, but it could be much better. ( )