'Speak of the Devil' - a paranormal mystery
Jackie Houchin
November 11, 2008
by Shari Shattuck
New York, Signet, 2008,
Paperback, $7.99
In this sequel to Eye of the Beholder, psychic Greer Sands is again forced to use her clairvoyant abilities to help find a killer and to protect the people and the environment she loves.
Set against a backdrop of the scorching Santa Ana winds that plague Southern California in the fall, Shattuck weaves a complex story of corporate greed, community unrest, arson and murder.
The people living around Greer have mixed feelings about the dense housing project being built in their community. Developers believe it will bring jobs and commerce; residents see only the ugly scar on their hillside, increased traffic, and pollution. Activists want to do more than just talk about it.
As tempers flare and fires ignite, Greer struggles to keep calm. But disturbing visions about her friends and the neighborhood begin to haunt her, and she sees symbols she can´t interpret: a pair of raven wings, a spider´s web. She senses a nebulous evil, but can´t pinpoint its human source.
Meanwhile, her son Joshua is growing into his own "gift." He can see malevolent and benevolent spirits of the dead, haunting or helping individuals, but he doesn´t know what to do about it.
As the brush fires increase and the death toll rises, suspicions focus first on Joshua´s new friend, a recently released young felon and gang member, and then on a Native American artist and activist whose landscape paintings seem to align with the arsonist´s targets. Following their separate visions, mother and son rush into the conflagration.
Shattuck thrusts her readers into the world of the paranormal almost from the first page, kindling an uneasiness and dread that´s not resolved until the final pages. Her descriptions of Greer´s visions and premonitions are wonderfully imagined and realistic, and Joshua´s violent battle with the spirit world on behalf of his new friend – although reminiscent of Harry Potter´s powers – is also very believable.
The book´s new and returning characters and their sticky relationships are richly drawn and convincing. So well does the author lay down clues and red herrings, that readers may be surprised at who are the good guys, and who, the villains.
Speak of the Devil is a concisely written, romantic-suspense-mystery, with taught, exciting chapters that keep readers racing to the finish.