Wake to Darkness by Maggie Shayne
Genre: Paranormal Mystery Thriller
Series: Brown and De Luca #2
Publication Date: November 26th 2013
ISBN: 9780778315551
Page Count: 368
Rating: ★★★★1/2
Review Copy: ARC
Reviewed by: Lynsey
Buy Link: AMAZON

Rachel de Luca's uncanny sense of perception is the key to her success as a self-help celebrity. Even before she regained her sight, she had a gift for seeing people's most carefully hidden secrets. But the secret she shares with Detective Mason Brown is one she has promised to keep. As for Mason, he sees Rachel more clearly than she'd like to admit...

After a single night of adrenaline-fueled passion, they have agreed to keep their distance—until a string of murders brings them together again. Mason thinks that he can protect everyone he loves, including Rachel, by taking them to a winter hideaway, but danger follows them up the mountain.

As guests disappear from the snowbound resort, the race to find the murderer intensifies. Rachel knows she's a target. Will acknowledging her feelings for Mason destroy her...or save them both and stop a killer?

REVIEW

A fantastic follow up! Maggie Shayne at her spine-tingling best!

I'm thrilled to say that everything I loved about book one in this series, Sleep With the Lights On, was back here in the second instalment in full force! It was a thrill ride from start to finish and everywhere in between. I loved it!

For starters, the tension surrounding the romance was delicious. Not an easy thing to achieve considering Mason and Rachel had been allowed to cave into their temptation in the first book (albeit behind closed doors! Grr!). Even so, their current "relationship" is just as enticing in its limbo state, and the reasons they think they shouldn't be together are tested to the limit in this book.

Also ratcheted right back up was the tension surrounding the serial killer that just. won't. DIE! It's incredibly well done, and definitely an interesting twist for a thriller. Although Rachel's reaction when Mason initially asks her to help out on the case is a resounding Oh Hell No!, it soon becomes clear that this new string of murders is definitely connected to the original transplant recipients, and that she will most likely become a target herself very soon.

I find it difficult to review mysteries since, naturally, you don't want to even hint at anything that might spoil another reader's enjoyment. Those Aha! moments are what they're all about, after all. But let's just say I was extremely pleased with how Wake to Darkness played out. It surprised the hell out of me. If you guess who it is before the end, then you're a much cleverer person than I am, because I did not see it coming but at all! I was miles out with my guesses!

To sum up, if you loved book one, this book is just as good if not better. I simply cannot wait to see how she ends the series!

A great read, not to be missed.

4.5 Stars ★★★★
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.