SHADOW OF DEATH takes fans of author Heather Graham back to her four horses of the apocalypse/FBI series. Hunter Forrest, FBI, and his partner, FDLE (Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement) special agent Amy Larson, are back in the thick of someone very sick game of making puppets of people who believe the end is near.
A tiny horse is found at the scene of carnage in a dark cavern near the Arkansas River, which is littered with corpses and one very live victim. The other hiker is presumed missing. Have we got another cult and another desperate rush to save lives? Or a copycat cult?
SHADOW OF DEATH is one frightening, dark, and evil read - and I could not put it down. Hunter and Amy are back having had another vacation ruined with another toy horse. This is the third they have received and another cult - or is it an arm of the original one that began in Florida. (DANGER IN NUMBERS and CRIMSON SUMMER are the first two of this particular apocalypse series.) This author places enough background facts throughout SHADOW OF DEATH to make it unnecessary to read the first two books but I would bet you will want to check them out.
To give credit where it is due, Ms. Graham always gives some great history lessons and illustrative dialogue that will keep you entranced, but she has also added a good bit of romance into this book. Hunter and Amy are an amazing couple and seem to grow stronger together no matter what is thrown at them and there is a lot thrown in SHADOW OF DEATH. A number of twists and turns will come to the reader's way and this was one of those reads where I could not get ahead and name the baddie, which is something I pride myself in doing. There are hints but even those are not always what they seem to be. That makes it a very well-done mystery in my book.
If you are looking for a romance, a mystery, some really sick people who lead the gullible then you want to read SHADOW OF DEATH. And maybe leave a light on ...
When two hikers go missing within a series of daunting
caves outside of Denver, Colorado, FDLE special agent Amy
Larson and her partner, FBI special agent Hunter Forrest,
have good reason to suspect foul play. The pair of hikers
are only the latest to vanish after a rash of disappearances
that’s left local law enforcement stumped. But in
searching the dank caverns near the Arkansas River, the
agents aren’t prepared for the horror they uncover: a
muddy pit littered with corpses. Covered in bite marks. Made
by human teeth.
When a tiny toy horse is found on the scene, Amy and
Hunter recognize the calling card. They’ll have to
move quickly before the already sizable body count can grow.
Their investigation soon draws them down the rabbit hole of
a dangerous cult with a sinister mandate—one that
involves human sacrifices. Anything to further their twisted
cause. But when more people go missing, it becomes clear the
cult’s reach extends beyond state lines, leading Amy
and Hunter deep into the Florida Everglades to set a
perilous trap, one that stands to risk everything they hold
dear, including their lives.