Lost Souls (edition 2008)

This book was absorbing, but the plot was over-the-top (completely unbelievable, unrealistic) and for the most part it moved very slowly. I have to knock off a star, too, because there were wordo's in the book that suggested sloppy writing and editing. I also didn't like some of her negative characterizations of fairly minor characters, which suggests a worldview that's not very compassionate. I didn't get much of a sense of place, which is important in a book set in Louisiana.

***SPOILER ALERT***
The character of Mai, the amazingly ineffectual FBI undercover agent, was simply not convincing. That she/they would leave in place a video camera that the apartment manager was using to spy on his tenant makes no sense. And why would Mai return to Kristi's apartment to uncover the lens? I thought Hiram was spying on Kristi, not Mai.

The "obvious" bad guy, Dr. Grotto, made no sense at all. His complicity, as well as that of Mathias, are ridiculous.

The romance between Kristi and Jay was interesting. Kristi's visions were distracting and unexplained.
( )

This was my first time that i read Lisa Jackson. Kristi Bentz walk in to relentless and an un bearable thrill ride that can make you wounder if that stuff really happens in real life. I injoyed this book can wait to read more of her books. ( )

Pretty bad.

One of her best! A great audio! Twenty-seven-year-old Kristi Bentz is lucky to be alive. Not many people her age have nearly died twice at the hands of a serial killer, and lived to tell about it. Her dad, New Orleans detective, Rick Bentz, wants Kristi to stay in New Orleans and out of danger. But if anything, Kristi's experiences have made her even more fascinated by the mind of the serial killer. She hasn't given up her dream of being a true-crime writer--of exploring the darkest recesses of evil--and now she just may get her chance.

Four girls have disappeared at All Saints College in less than two years. All four were "lost souls"--troubled, vulnerable girls with no one to care about them, no one to come looking if they disappeared. The police think they're runaways, but Kristi senses there's something that links them, something terrifying. She decides to enroll, following their same steps. All Saints has changed a lot since Kristi was an undergraduate. The stodgy Catholic college has lured edgy new professors to its campus and gained a reputation for envelope-pushing, with classes like the very popular "The Influence of Vampirism in Modern Culture and Literature," and elaborately staged morality plays that feel more like the titillating entertainment of some underground club than religious spectacles. And there are whispers of a dark cult on campus whose members wear vials of blood around their necks and meet in secret chambers--rituals to which only the elite have access. To find the truth, Kristi will need to become part of the cult's inner circle, to learn their secrets, and play the part of lost soul without losing herself in the process. It's a dangerous path, and Kristi is skating on its knife-thin edge.

The deeper she goes, the more Kristi begins to wonder if she is the hunter or the prey. She's certain she's being watched and followed--studied, even--as yet another girl disappears, and another. And when the bodies finally begin to surface--in ways that bring fear to the campus and terror to the hearts of even hardened cops like Detective Bentz and his partner Reuben Montoya--Kristi realizes with chilling clarity that she has underestimated her foe. She is playing a game with a killer more cunning and bloodthirsty than anyone can imagine, one who has personally selected her for membership in a cult of death from which there will be no escape. ( )

A lovely suspense story. Read the book in one night. It was fun to read and I would read it again. ( )