Review: The Night is Alive

Heather Graham's series about the Krewe of Hunters continues with this installment. I really enjoyed this one. Read on...  :)

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

It's a city of beauty, history…hauntings. And one of the most haunted places in Savannah is a tavern called The Dragonslayer, built in the 1750s. The current owner, Gus Anderson, is a descendant of the original innkeeper and his pirate brother, Blue.

Gus summons his granddaughter, Abigail, home from Virginia, where she's studying at the FBI Academy. When she arrives, she's devastated to find him dead. Murdered. But Abby soon learns that Gus isn't the only one to meet a brutal and untimely end; there've been at least two other victims. Then Captain Blue Anderson starts making ghostly appearances, and the FBI's paranormal investigation unit, the Krewe of Hunters, sends in Agent Malachi Gordon.

Abby and Malachi have a similar ability to connect with the dead…and a similar stubbornness. Sparks immediately begin to fly—sparks of attraction and discord. But as the death toll rises, they have to trust each other or they, too, might find themselves among the dead haunting old Savannah!

My review:

There are several reasons why I enjoy Heather Graham's books so much.  First, I love ghost stories and it is hard to find a good ghost story these days.  She also has the historical element to all of her books, which I find to be both interesting and a lot of fun.  They are fairly easy reads and aren't usually more than 400 pages so you don't have to worry about an overload of details.  You begin reading, you learn some interesting history about the setting and background of the story, and the plot begins.  There are always interesting characters, some romance between the two main characters, and I like guessing who the real criminal is before the end of the story.  Sure... there is an element of predictability in that the stories usually have happy endings and everything wraps up nicely but that is ok.  I always know I can rely on this author for an enjoyable read.

Something else I appreciate is that, although all of her books are about the Krewe of Hunters, the books are divided into smaller, "trilogies" and different characters are represented in each one.  Old characters do come back but the main characters are always new.  I think that helps keep the series from becoming tiresome.

In The Night is Alive, I especially loved the pirate theme.  The fact that there really are tunnels running under Savannah Georgia that were used in the 1800's and earlier by pirates and to bury yellow fever victims is fascinating.  I actually went on-line and there are YouTube videos and many articles about the tunnels so I learned a lot more about the tunnels.  It was so interesting to me how the author incorporated these elements into the story.

The characters in this book were of course beautiful to look at and conveniently single and drawn together as the story progresses but I don't think that this element took away from the book at all.  The romance wasn't overpowering, and the murder mystery kept me on my toes.  I didn't find myself bored at any time and didn't realize who the killer was until almost the end of the story.  I'm starting the next one, The Night is Forever, today. :)