Quick Thoughts: Wait for Dark

Wait for Dark

by Kay Hooper
Book 17 of Bishop/Special Crimes Unit

~ Goodreads ~

Rating:  3.0 Stars

An SCU team investigates a string of accidents, only to uncover a deadly and deliberate monster in the latest novel from New York Times bestselling author Kay Hooper.

In Clarity, North Carolina, the residents have fallen victim to an unfortunate series of events.  Seemingly random accidents have taken the lives of several citizens in the small mountain town.  But these deadly coincidences are anything but.  Something is on the hunt in Clarity, and the only clue as to what is a cryptic note given to the victims 24 hours before they meet their ends: “Wait for dark.”

Sheriff Mal Gordon knows how to handle his town, but he has no idea how to handle this.  Hollis Templeton and her team from the Special Crimes Unit, including her partner and lover, telepath Reese DeMarco, are called in to investigate.

But while the SCU has prepared them for the unknown, the incredible evil stalking Clarity shakes the team to their core when one of their own is targeted.  Now Hollis, the “cat with nine lives” finds herself facing death again.

And this time, not even her partner can protect her...

The actual book itself gets a 2.5 Star - This book is so meh - Rating.  I give an extra 0.5 Star for Hollis, who is my favorite of the Bishop/SCU characters.  I've always loved how Hollis is blunt and sarcastic, the much more colorful and animated of any of the characters since her appearance in Book 4.

I think the main thing that lost steam for me with this series is all the talking.  Yes, I understand that investigating crime is more than just action and arresting the bad guys.  But these characters seem to like to sit around and rehash the same conversations over and over again--about their powers, about the psychic world, about the Universe... etc.  I'm almost afraid to admit that only two out of five of their sit-down-in-the-conference-room discussions actually had to do with the murder investigation itself.

The crime and concept of this book is good, with lots of potential.  A string of accidents begin to prove much more sinister when a grisly murder tops it all off.  With so many deliberately planned deaths and little to no evidence to go on, these cases would definitely serve as a challenge to our federal agents of the SCU.

And that is just how the entire book goes on for almost 300 pages, with a lot of sitting around and discussing psychic powers, like we hadn't already been doing as much for sixteen books already.  Okay.  I'm exaggerating.  We really didn't start this whole "sitting down and discussing everything about the psychic world" thing until probably about two story arcs ago.  Still... it's becoming a bit much and seems to make the books kind of boring since it's always the same conversation.

Then, the ending takes a turn when Hollis has an epiphany and suddenly the case has been solved.

To say I was a bit disappointed in this turn of events... well, I suppose this is what I'd been expecting anyway since the most recent of the Bishop/SCU installments have been less than ideal.  And almost too dragging and boring.

Don't get me wrong.  I love this series--have loved it since the first couple trilogy arcs.  Have loved and looked forward to seeing Hollis Templeton in action since she joined the unit.  But it seems that, slowly but surely, these books are starting to lose their appeal, even if they continue to be detailed and dark and gritty.  They can be thought-provoking as well, but it doesn't help if nothing new is introduced into this series.

Anyway, I will probably continue to keep an eye out for the next installment.  At the very least, they are written well and make for easy entertainment.  I haven't given up hope yet that things will turn around and surprise me.