Daniel Hecht

Fascinating account of Cree Black, parapsychologist, assisting in a potential "possession" of a student in a boarding school in New Mexico. I loved the slowly layered details of each character's personality and history, and the mysteries unraveling. Descriptions of action, place and feeling were all so vivid; sometimes too creepy.

There are times that there was a little too much time spent trying to legitimize Cree's vocation...it didn't take long to suspend disbelief and wasn't needed. On show more the other hand, it was logical to spend time showing similarities with Navajo ways of dealing with ghosts and evil presences. show less

I was mad at myself when I finished this book, that I didn’t figure it out before the end. Duh. I’m not sure how to feel now that I know.

I found Paul to be somewhat weak and pathetic. Really. Just ask the question for god’s sake. Don’t sit there wondering all over the place. He did start to fight back in the end though.

I liked the structure of the chapters. Unlike most thrillers, he didn’t leave each one as a mini-thriller all on its own. Each chapter had closure and was easy to show more pick up again. Not that I left it long – finished the book in one day. The dialogue from the aunt was a bit stilted though and it was never fully explained where her ex-husband got off to. show less

Opening Sentence : '..."Cree - an unusual name. An Indian tribe isn't it - up in Manitoba or someplace? Your parents named you after them?" ...'

This is the first book in the Cree Black series and what a great start it is. Several of my mystery loving friends have recommended this series to me and I am sorry it took me a while to get to it.

This book is not a light and fluffy read, it is for the mystery reader looking for something unusual believable and a little scary.

Cree Black is one of a show more team of investigators who specialize in ghost removal. She is a clinical psychologist who discovered that ghosts exist and she is sensitive to them. This empathy she has also extends to those who are being haunted as well. She is hired to investigate the daughter of a socially prominent New Orleans family who is being haunted by a violent and menacing spirit.

A pig headed ghost repeatedly molests a woman in a family mansion, a news reported dies without any explanation in the kitchen, and the head of a family finds herself desperately trying to preserve what honor and sanity are left for her heirs. However to solve the mystery of the apparitions Cree needs to start the tortuous journey of unraveling her own issues.

Hecht captures the atmosphere and magic that lurks in New Orleans, and reveals what lies under the masks that the city, and her people, put on to hide what goes on below the surface. The novel so believable, even the ghost explanations and science. The characters, good and bad, came alive and leapt off the pages, they are all so believably tormented by events that they come across as entirely sympathetic. The story is edge of the seat creepy and suspenseful, with wonderful psycho-babble and, of course, the paranormal. Cree has to find out who the ghost is, why it is lingering and then get rid of it. To do that she has to find the secrets of her clients - and they are not going to reveal them in a hurry. show less

Connor was a hotshot investigative reporter in DC on a downward spiral with status and addiction, when he returned to his home state of Vermont. Now living in a small town and a cabin in the woods, Conn finds contentment writing for a community newspaper, and happiness with his relationship with Cecelia, a school psychologist. Everything changes when a missing person turns out to be his estranged sister who had come out of her own downward spiral. This book became a page turner for me, not show more only for the murder mystery, but also for the complex characters and the familiar setting. As long as it is, I found it a very satisfying and engrossing read that I polished off in a couple of days. show less