Tara Sheridan wants nothing more than to stay in the solitude of her Tennessee cabin, far away from her short profiler career with the Special Projects division and the horrific case that left her physically and emotionally scarred for life. But when Sophia, a Daughter of Delphi and Tara's mother's best friend, shows up asking Tara to find a missing scientist, the young woman with the talent for communicating with the Tarot takes the case.

Investigating the remains of Dr. Magnusson's particle accelerator and laboratory with Agent Harry Li, Tara fights to control her fears and discover a clue of what happened to the lab and the missing scientist. Stonewalled by the military and her former boss, Tara and Harry decide to investigate Magnusson's personal life. Able to retrieve the doctor's laptop, the two agents save Cassie and Maggie, Magnusson's daughter and chocolate lab, from a professional hit, although Tara is wounded in their escape. Taking shelter at Harry's foster father's isolated RV, Tara consults her Tarot deck, trying to discover the best path to follow, both for herself and the investigation. What she reads in the cards is both encouraging and terrifying, for Cassie is not the only one with an killer after her. An ambitious Daughter of Delphi has targeted Tara and is using earth power to track the group no matter where they go.

I thoroughly enjoyed DARK ORACLE. While it initially seemed to be the second in a series, Tara's back-story is slowly revealed and the novel is self-contained. Tara is a fully realized character, and her inner growth as well as the way her relationship develops with Harry has an emotional depth that is completely believable. The mix of science and special abilities is a different combination from other urban fantasies. I know little about the Tarot, but the author (AKA Laura Bickle) treated Tara's readings with a delicate touch, letting the reader understand why Tara interpreted the cards the way she did, as well as giving enough of a description of the illustrations that the reader could come to their own conclusions. I highly recommend DARK ORACLE, and hope to see more of Tara's readings in the future.