The Hexed-Heather Graham

The Hexed

Heather Graham

Mira, Jul 29 2014, $7.99

ISBN: 9780778316374

Peabody, Massachusetts high school senior, Craig “Rocky” Rockwell is not into Melissa Wilson though she makes it clear she wants him.  When he hears her calling out to him, he ignores her until he realizes she pleads for him to help her.  Thinking of slasher movies he rushes towards where he believes the voice emanates; only to find Melissa with her throat sliced.

Thirteen years later, a second female victim in nearby Swampscott with the same M.O. of a sliced throated, posed as a pentagram and a silver medallion on her chest enables FBI Agent Rocky’s transfer to the Krewe of Hunters unit.  Special Agent Jackson Crow assigns him to the Massachusetts case though there is some concern over his emotional attachment to the first known vic. 

Following the death of her great-Aunt Mina, Devin Lyle inherits her cabin and moves back to Salem to live there.  She finds a corpse nearby her home, which brings Rocky into her life.  They both quickly realize they share in common the ability to talk with ghosts as her Aunt Mina tries to assist them on their inquiry.

The latest Krewe of Hunters urban fantasy police procedural (see The Cursed and Phantom Evil) is a thrilling entry in which Heather Graham captures the essence of coastal Massachusetts north of Boston (I lived in the area including a wonderful month in Peabody in the early 1980s).  Although the protagonists feel less developed than the usual zoo Krewe, the paranormal investigation brings as always top rate enjoyment with the otherworldly elements feeling genuine; while Ms. Graham hauntingly brings to life (and death) Salem and the surrounding towns.

Harriet Klausner