When I read Collecting the Dead, the first book in this series, I said in my review that it knocked my socks off. Then I got this one, and there went my toes.
It's absolutely exhilarating to find a new series that's this enjoyable; I love Magnus "Steps" Craig, an agent with the FBI's Special Tracking Unit. He's clever, amusing and "special" in another sense. Ever since surviving a childhood accident, he's had the ability to see "shine" - the essence, or aura, human beings leave behind wherever they go - in glorious living colors. It's not always a welcome talent, though, so he wears special lead crystal glasses that block it out when he doesn't need it on the job. As for that, his ability is a secret except to his partner, Special Agent Jimmy Donovan, his father, the head of the FBI and, of course, readers like me.
That ability is stretched almost to the limit in this book, when it's learned that the body of a female jogger in a wooded area isn't the first. Apparently, a serial killer has been plying his or her trade for years - and the modus operandi smacked of a seriously deranged individual. Steps and Jimmy catch the "perp," and that theory becomes a reality. Also a reality, though, is that at least one someone else is involved - someone who may be more dangerous than the one they caught (if that's possible).
When yet another woman goes missing, time becomes the enemy. The team has a pretty good idea how long they have before this latest kidnapping turns into a murder - and it may not be long enough. It takes the skills of every expert in the Special Tracking Unit, plus the help of other law enforcement officials with whom they routinely work, to identify and locate the person behind the grisly murders. The devil, of course, is in the details - and while I won't reveal any of them, trust me when I say they make for a highly engrossing story that I really, really didn't want to put down.
For the record (and for those who prefer to read books in order), somehow I missed the second installment, Whispers of the Dead, more's the pity. It's a mistake I intend to rectify as soon as possible. Meantime, thanks once again to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy. Outstanding!
Shadows of the Dead by Spencer Kope (Minotaur Books, August 2020); 384 pp.
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