Title: Dead Speak
Series: Cold Case Psychic: Book One
Author: Pandora Pine
Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited
Length: 214 Pages
Category: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense
At a Glance: Pandora Pine weaves the tension, both situational and sexual, throughout the book wonderfully, right up to the final climax.
Reviewed By: Jenn
Blurb: Demoted to the cold case squad after shooting a suspect in the line of duty, Detective Ronan O’Mara knows that his career with the Boston Police Department is hanging by a thread. His first assignment is the case of Michael Frye, a five-year-old boy who has been missing for seven years. With no new leads or witnesses to interview, Ronan has to start from scratch to solve this mystery. When he sees a handsome local psychic on television, Ronan figures he’s got nothing to lose in enlisting the man’s help to find Michael.
Psychic Tennyson Grimm is riding high after helping South Shore cops find a missing child. He’s even being courted by the Reality Show Network about a program showcasing his abilities. He has no idea that his midday appointment with a customer, who instead turns out to be a police detective, is going to change the course of his life and his career.
With the blessing of the BPD, which badly needs an image make-over, Ronan is allowed to bring Tennyson in to assist with the Frye case. Being thrown together in front of cameras is never easy, but add in an emotional missing person’s investigation, a tight-lipped spirit, and a cop who’s a skeptic, and it definitely puts a strain on both men and their working relationship.
When the child’s body is found, the work to identify his killer begins. As Ronan and Tennyson get closer to solving the case, the initial attraction they feel for one another explodes into a passion neither man can contain.
Will working together to bring Michael’s killer to justice seal their fledgling bond, or will unexpected revelations in the case tear them apart forever?
Review: This book grabbed me from the very start with a rush of action that was the bottom of a long spiral of despair for the main character, built into a complex and wonderful book that hooks you in and gives you a satisfying ending.
Ronan’s pain and suffering had me wanting to mother him, while his stubborn and mulish walls he surrounded himself with made me want to punch him. The author built a complex character who was at his lowest, trying to recover his sobriety, his reputation and his career. Being handed the cold case of a missing five-year-old boy, Michael Frye, at the start seemed like the straw that would break the camel’s back. It was his determination to solve this case, and the desperation to prove he could do something after so many blows to his pride, that he seeks out a medium’s help.
I liked how the author never really went into how or why Tennyson had his gifts, instead focusing on how he used them and how they impacted his life, leaving that air of mystery and potential magic for the readers. I loved his family and can’t wait to read about how his best friend, Carson, met the man he loved, since just the summary we’re given was fantastic. Tennyson’s caring personality and determination to help the ghosts he sees is endearing, and I loved watching him interact with the ghost of Michael Frye.
I thought the author dealt with the sensitive subject matter of a dead child, kidnapped and potentially raped, with a delicate and considerate hand. I could feel the horror and disgust that the characters all displayed as the case progressed and they found Michael Frye’s body. Ten’s ‘gift’ then really came into the fore as he described that even being witness to the tragedy left people’s souls tattered. In fact, while the TV show and its producer that seemed to ‘force’ the Ronan and Ten to work together was obtrusive and in your face at the start of the book, they faded to the background and didn’t cause a stir later on. I believe it’s a sign that the author knew that the case and its subject was more important than the original subplot.
It was fantastic to see the opposing sides of Ronan’s logic and practicality war with Ten’s spirituality and blind faith, eventually morphing into a relationship of respect and trust. The author wove the tension, both situational and sexual, throughout the book wonderfully, right up to the final climax. I also loved how the emotional war that Ronan went through in the case wasn’t magically fixed when justice was brought to the culprit, and instead, it still seemed to haunt him and he fell back into his first days of sobriety only facing the day in front of him.
You can buy Dead Speak here:
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