Plot: In Salem, Massachusetts stands the Lexington House. A house that has seen numerous murders over the years. Jenna Duffy has made a career out of investigating the inexplicable. Yet nothing could prepare her for the string of slayings once again plaguing Lexington House—or for the chief suspect, a boy barely old enough to drive, much less kill. With the young man’s life on the line, Jenna must team up with attorney Samuel Hall to pinpoint who—or what—is taking the lives of those who get too close to the past. But everything they learn brings them closer to the forces of evil stalking this tortured ground.

My Review: I got really excited about reading this when I learned the book took place in Salem, Massachusetts during the Halloween Haunted Happenings. I’ve been to those a few times in my life, and I was planning on going again this October. For those that don’t know, the details…basically the town of Salem transforms into anything and everything witch, horror and Halloween for the entire month of October. It really is a blast.

It was really interesting to read about the different locations in the book since I’ve been there and I could completely visualize the place easily. I figured since it took place in a great location around the best time of year the book would probably end up being my favorite out of all of them. Since I’m a huge slasher movie fan where a lot of times the killer wears a costume, I figured this book would rock, as the killer in this book also wears a costume. Unfortunately I had a lot going on in my life while trying to read this and got sidetracked often so that really didn’t help matters. A book that should have taken me a week or two turned into a month.

The overall story isn’t all that bad quite honestly. A lawyer comes upon a bloody nude teenage boy out in the road. He calls the police and discovers that the kid just murdered his whole family…or did he? Apparently his family were religious “nuts” (as the community saw them) and everyone thinks this boy has killed them and a couple other people in and outside of town. Not just killed them, but hacked them up with an ax brutally.

Kids around school claim the teenager has special powers that can make him hurt people with just one look. Two teenagers swear they saw him at one of the murder locations. And a local store owner claims they are lying because he saw the teenager at the time of the murder.

The lawyer who stumbled upon the bloody teenager that night decides to take on the case when he’s asked by Jamie, the teenagers psychiatrist, and his niece – Jenna Duffy, one of the Krewe of Hunters. Jenna has the “power” to see past events as if they were playing on a movie screen before her. So she decides to help her uncle and the lawyer solve the case as they believe the teenager is not guilty. Of course as the book goes along Jenna and the lawyer fall unbelievably in love. Like it happens overnight.

That’s the main problem I’ve had with this series, the ghostly activity and the romance just doesn’t seem to really go together or fit, or feel “right”. I’ve read other books by Graham and they’ve been fun and full of romance and mystery. This entire series just feels so rushed and its very noticeable with all the bad editing throughout all the books. At least on the kindle preview versions I read.

I honestly didn’t care at all for any of the characters in this book. The rest of the Krewe of hunters make an appearance about ½ way through the book. I was more into the murder mystery aspect and wish the romance had stayed out of it. In the end the killer and motive was just downright silly.

Overall: So, I liked the plot and the location and the history to this book. But hated the romance, characters, and didn’t care for the killer and motive. Its really 50/50 for me with this book. As I stated in my last review, I don’t know that I’d even bother with another book in this series, I’m highly disappointed in the material given that its from a good author.

[rating:2.5/5]