Sleeping with Fear

May 1, 2006
Psychic FBI agent Riley Crane wakes up one afternoon covered in blood (not her own), with a pounding headache and no memory of the last three weeks—or her clairvoyant sense. In this third fast-paced installation of Hooper's Fear trilogy (after Chill of Fear
), Riley is on assignment on Opal Island off the coast of South Carolina, summoned there by her ex-army friend, Gordon Skinner, to investigate possible occult activity. Despite her haziness on the investigation's details to date—including her apparent romantic involvement with Sheriff Jake Ballard—she persuades her boss, Noah Bishop, chief of the FBI Special Crimes Unit, to let her stay to "stabilize" the situation, which just got bloodier with another brutal murder. Vulnerable and unable to trust herself or those around her, Riley perseveres in an investigation that could prove deadly. Hooper keeps the suspense dialed up as Riley experiences brief flashes of memory, visions of satanic rites and continued blackouts. Regardless of their appetite for the paranormal, readers will be mesmerized by a plot that moves quickly to a chilling conclusion.

June 1, 2006
The third book in Hooper's Bishop series follows Riley Crane, a member of an FBI unit of psychics, to Opal Island to investigate reported occult activity. She experiences blackouts and a loss of energy and clairvoyant powers and slowly realizes that she is under attack by someone able to marshal dark forces who is related to a serial killer she killed in a prior case. Riley then learns that her lover, Ash, who turns out to be the local DA, was also involved with the case. She is loathe to trust him, since she can't remember falling in love with him, but her body doesn't forget, and his calm acceptance of her occult powers gives her confidence. Her strength and powers return, and she succeeds in ridding Opal Island of its evil. As in many sequels, there is some catch-up involved, but the book stands on its own and is an interesting mystery-paranormal-romance genre blend.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)