Harbinger of Books

Lydia Smith is a paranormal archeologist on the colony of Harmony. She has recently had an episode where she has been labeled as "psychically crippled" and has been shunned from her life at University. Lydia is trying to figure out how to redeem herself by working at a third rate museum. One day things look up as a wealthy businessman hires her as a consultant to find a stolen family artifact. However the same day they meet a man is murdered and that man is Lydia’s friend. Emmet London is more than he seems and the plot is more than just the family artifact because someone is willing to kill both Emmett and Lydia so they cannot figure it out.

I have been wanting to read something by Jayne Castle for a long time. I must admit I did enjoy the premise of the story, a human colony far away from Earth and there are ghosts and psychics and mediums and yeah that is all I know because the book acts like I know about the world. As a reader I appreciate the lack of an info dump that sometimes occurs in science fiction/fantasy but I need a little more than what was offered here. On the other side the book was not that confusing because for all the raaz and slider cars it felt like I was in a small American city. This is my first issue if this is supposed to be fantasy and this is supposed to be the first book in a series please help me understand the world beyond the current action sequence. If this is not the first one then help me out a bit by bringing me up to speed.

The mystery you could spot a mile away very predictable but still an enjoyable ride watching things come together. At the end they came together a bit too conveniently but such is life. As for the characters my absolute favorite was the pet dust bunny who is all cuddly but then turns into a little hunter. Do not get me wrong Emmett and Lydia were also good solid characters, they have some good verbal spars and it feels like those old movies in the 60’s and Emmett is like a mans man. Lydia felt like a woman trying to keep up with the big boys. So no not my favorite couple but not terrible either. A problem for me with the characters was that we have a lot of loose strings. For example Emmett’s background there is a few hints but not much. Then a lot of time is spent on Lydia and her lost 48 hours which at times she seemed to know what happened and at others no clue. I kept thinking there would be a link between her prejudices about ghost hunters but nope we are left wide open.

In the end the book was not bad just rough around the edges. I want to read the next one in the series to decide if I will follow this one or not. If you want a light quick read this could be fun.