Psychic operative Jessie Rayburn has been living at Haven
since running away from her family and the town of Baron
Hollow in rural North Carolina. Haven is a place created by
Special Agent Noah Bishop, of the Special Crimes Unit of
the FBI, to perfect the abilities of psychics for
investigative purposes.
Now, Jessie finds she must return to Baron Hollow to deal
with the events that led to her fleeing in the middle of
the night 15 years ago. When Jessie fled Baron Hollow, she
left her younger sister, Emma, to care for their father,
who has since died. In the interim, Emma has turned their
ancestral home into an inn and become a vital part of the
small community. Though Emma has never been psychic, lately
she has been experiencing terrible nightmares where she
sees women being horribly brutalized and then murdered.
Emma is shocked when Jessie tells her she's coming for a
visit.
Unbeknownst to Jessie, a fellow psychic, Nathan Navarro,
has been sent to assist her. Sensing a dark and evil
presence in the town, it doesn't take long for Navarro to
discover the mutilated, naked body of a young woman in the
untamed woods outside the town. From what he sees, Navarro
concludes it to be the work of a serial killer. Jessie
knows she has to start digging into her painful past and
figure out what actually happened that caused her to flee.
She tries to do it carefully, so as not to alert the
killer. But she doesn't do a very good job of that, and
soon the entire town is speculating about why she's
returned. The killer finds her antics amusing, while he
continues his evil ways, eventually with Jessie in his grip.
I have to say, Jessie's adverse personality and reckless
actions, especially to danger, were a bit unsettling. I
cared far more for Emma and Navarro as characters than I
did Jessie, but maybe that's the way it's intended. That
said, Kay Hooper's HAVEN is an intensely complex
thriller with lots of dark and interesting plot twists that
should please her many fans.
Another nightmare, in the woods this time. Different: She
was running. Trying to escape.
But the same ending. Always the same ending. Another dead
girl…
Emma Rayburn was born and raised in Baron Hollow, North
Carolina, and it was a quiet life. Then came the accident…
and the nightmares—each filled with unshakable visions of
darkness, blind panic, and desperate women chased toward
inevitable death. With no reports of local women missing
or found dead, Emma has written it off to troubled
imaginings—night after dreaded night. Until her sister
arrives.
Jessie Rayburn, psychic investigator for a firm called
Haven, has been estranged from Emma for years. Unresolved
issues from Jessie’s past have not only kept them apart
but have been clouding Jessie’s unique abilities. A return
to her hometown to face a dark and violent incident from
years gone by is her chance to regain them. But
reconciliation with the past comes with a price. Few
people in Baron Hollow are welcoming Jessie back. No one
dares to breathe a word. And in this conspiracy of
silence, Emma’s nightmares are becoming more vivid than
ever.
Even with the help of Noah Bishop, head of the FBI Special
Crimes Unit and co-founder of Haven, Jessie and Emma soon
find themselves outnumbered by the secrets buried in Baron
Hollow—and outrunning an evil that has been festering for
years, one that’s targeting Jessie and Emma one last time.