Helpful Score: 1
From the book cover:
When Sergeant Hallie Michaels comes back to South Dakota from Afghanistan on ten days' compassionate leave, her sister Dell's ghost is waiting at the airport to greet her.
The sheriff says that Dell's death was suicide, but Hallie doesn't believe it. Something happened or Dell's ghost wouldn't still be hanging around. Friends and family, mourning Dell's loss, think Hallie's letting her grief interfere with her judgment.
The one person who seems willing to listen is the deputy sheriff, Boyd Davies, who shows up everywhere and helps when he doesn't have to.
As Hallie asks more questions, she attracts new ghosts, women who disappeared without a trace. Soon, someone's trying to beat her up, burn down her father's ranch, and stop her investigation.
Hallie's going to need Boyd, her friends, and all the ghosts she can find to defeat an enemy who has an unimaginable ancient power at his command.
Notes:
Since a near death experience while deployed in Afghanistan, Sergeant Hallie Michaels sees ghosts. She is placed on compassionate leave to go home to South Dakota due to the suicide of her sister Dell. At the Rapid City airport, Dell's restless spirit greets Hallie. Dell continues to haunt her sibling until Hallie wonders if her sister is trying to tell her she did not kill herself; but instead was murdered.
Hallie asks questions, but the sheriff, friends, family and Dell's workplace believe the soldier cannot accept her sister killed herself. Sheriff deputy Boyd Davies has dreams that insist Dell was killed and the homicide covered up. Hallie and Boyd reluctantly team up investigating dell's death as other females ghosts congregate around her. When assaults and arson occur, Hallie knows someone desperately wants to end her inquiry. However, she will soon learn the enemy has an ancient powerful evil supporting their side.
The key to this engaging rural fantasy is the belief that ghosts exist as the spirits and living "comingle" in Wide Open South Dakota. The storyline is fast-paced from the moment Dell welcomes Hallie home and never slows down as the soldier and the cop supported by ghosts and the living battle against an incredible malevolence. Although happenchance occurs too often, Deborah Coates provides a fabulous paranormal investigation.
When Sergeant Hallie Michaels comes back to South Dakota from Afghanistan on ten days' compassionate leave, her sister Dell's ghost is waiting at the airport to greet her.
The sheriff says that Dell's death was suicide, but Hallie doesn't believe it. Something happened or Dell's ghost wouldn't still be hanging around. Friends and family, mourning Dell's loss, think Hallie's letting her grief interfere with her judgment.
The one person who seems willing to listen is the deputy sheriff, Boyd Davies, who shows up everywhere and helps when he doesn't have to.
As Hallie asks more questions, she attracts new ghosts, women who disappeared without a trace. Soon, someone's trying to beat her up, burn down her father's ranch, and stop her investigation.
Hallie's going to need Boyd, her friends, and all the ghosts she can find to defeat an enemy who has an unimaginable ancient power at his command.
Notes:
Since a near death experience while deployed in Afghanistan, Sergeant Hallie Michaels sees ghosts. She is placed on compassionate leave to go home to South Dakota due to the suicide of her sister Dell. At the Rapid City airport, Dell's restless spirit greets Hallie. Dell continues to haunt her sibling until Hallie wonders if her sister is trying to tell her she did not kill herself; but instead was murdered.
Hallie asks questions, but the sheriff, friends, family and Dell's workplace believe the soldier cannot accept her sister killed herself. Sheriff deputy Boyd Davies has dreams that insist Dell was killed and the homicide covered up. Hallie and Boyd reluctantly team up investigating dell's death as other females ghosts congregate around her. When assaults and arson occur, Hallie knows someone desperately wants to end her inquiry. However, she will soon learn the enemy has an ancient powerful evil supporting their side.
The key to this engaging rural fantasy is the belief that ghosts exist as the spirits and living "comingle" in Wide Open South Dakota. The storyline is fast-paced from the moment Dell welcomes Hallie home and never slows down as the soldier and the cop supported by ghosts and the living battle against an incredible malevolence. Although happenchance occurs too often, Deborah Coates provides a fabulous paranormal investigation.
Good contemporary dark fantasy. You can read my full review in the August 2023 PBS Blog.
