This is the fourth in a series featuring an elite special tracking unit of the FBI that includes 28-year-old Magnus “Steps” Craig. Following an accident at age eight in which Steps actually died for a time before being revived, Steps gained the unique ability to detect the “essence” of a person, or “shine” on everything the person has touched. Each person’s shine is distinct. Thus Steps can ascertain exactly where a criminal or victim has been. Only three people know about his ability: his dad, the director of the FBI, and his partner of 6 years, Jimmy Donovan. Steps and Jimmy have a third partner, Diane Parker, who stays in the office and does their research as needed, and at which she demonstrates her own kind of magic skills.

Steps and Jimmy are called to Bakersfield, California to help find four high-powered men who are missing. They include Marco Perez, the area Congressman, and his college buddies Wade Winchell, the Deputy DA of LA County; Jason Norris, a wealthy accounting firm CEO; and Noah Long, an even wealthier cofounder of a New York hedge fund. Any one of them, or all of them, could be the target of a crime. After they find the first dead body, the race is on to save the rest.

Evaluation: This story certainly has a lot of tension to keep you turning the pages. The crimes are gruesome, but sufficiently unrealistic (at least I hope so) that I wasn’t too upset by reading about them. There is plenty of background provided if you did not read the previous books in the series. ( )

It's almost as if Spencer Kope read my mind. I've often wondered about killers who had someone in their childhoods treat them horribly... why couldn't they kill the persons who abused them instead of annihilating so many innocent people? In Echoes of the Dead, he takes this thought of mine, turns it on its head a bit, and runs with it.

Due to his synesthesia, Steps Craig is an old soul in a young man's body, and this fourth book in the Special Tracking Unit series finally shows readers that his personal life is taking some very important, and very beneficial, strides forward. I always enjoy reading how he and partner Jimmy Donovan (one of the few who know his secret) work together, and in this book, they get some first-rate help from a member of local law enforcement.

The violence in Echoes of the Dead seems to have been raised a notch or two, which will make it very uncomfortable for those readers who have a low tolerance for such things, but although I had a moment or two of unease, I am the type of reader who only becomes more determined to catch the killer when this happens. I also noticed something that will please readers who shun anything that has the slightest appearance of the paranormal. In this book, "shine"-- the colorful essence of the killer-- is no longer the primary way to identify the killer. Now "shine" is more of a "stamp of approval" that their leads have brought them to the right person. For me, "shine" works either way because I also like watching Jimmy and Steps try to find legal ways to prove what it's been telling them all along.

Was catching this killer satisfying? You betcha. Now I'm looking forward to the next book, especially because of the cliffhanger this one ended on. Bring it on!

(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley) ( )