Silence

April 15, 2012
A girl in mourning for her dead boyfriend learns that she has a power over the dead that may endanger her own life. Emma visits her boyfriend's grave in the cemetery often. While walking her dog one night, she meets Eric there and has a terrifying encounter with a ghostly crone who kisses her. Thereafter Emma can see the dead, and if she touches them, others can see them too. Eric and his friend Chase work for an agency that tracks such beings, and they believe she has become a necromancer, one who can steal power from ghosts. Chase elects to kill Emma, but Eric, although he agrees, opts to wait. Meanwhile, Emma has sensed the ghost of a little boy who died in a fire, and she insists on rescuing his spirit from that ongoing hell. Sagara concocts an interesting and original premise but seems most concerned with explaining precisely how Emma's paranormal powers work. She tends to philosophize or to indulge in such extensive detail during the suspense scenes that she creates diversions from the action. Thus, the suspense often takes a back seat to exposition. Nevertheless, a few tension-filled scenes involving ghosts and an evil necromancer hit their target. She inserts an effective chick-lit element with Emma's friends, broadening her novel's appeal. Promising if not yet fully realized. (Paranormal suspense. 12 & up)

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