“The Taken Ones” by Jess Lourey

 A Pleasant Discovery! -- 5 stars

I came across “The Taken Ones” thanks to one of those If-you-like-Dean-Koontz-you-may-like suggestions. And like it I did! I’m also pleased to learn that it’s the first book in the “Steinbeck and Reed” series. I can only hope that the sequels are just as solid.

In July of 1980, three girls ventured into Blackwood Forest. Hours later, only Melissa Carver stumbled out, her clothes torn, unable -- or unwilling -- to explain what happened to her friends. The case of the missing Holloway sisters gathered dust in county archives for decades. Flash forward to now, when Evangeline “Van” Reed stares at crime scene photos spread across her desk while her forensics partner, Harry Steinbeck, pins up a fresh murder victim’s portrait beside the faded images of the Holloway girls. The similarities are impossible to ignore.

From there, the narrative unfolds as a taut crime thriller, yet transcends the genre through its compelling protagonists, Van and Harry. These characters resonate with remarkable depth. Van’s recurring nightmares hint at her fractured childhood, leaving her wary of human connection. She navigates the world with a quiet unease, finding solace instead in the wordless company of abandoned dogs at the local shelter where she volunteers her evenings away from the precinct.

The psychological depth of the investigators unfolds with each clue they uncover. Just when you think you understand the direction of the story, a revelation at the mid point shatters every assumption you’ve built. I found myself staring at the page, breathless. The author masterfully crafts moments of genuine unease throughout -- the kind that lingers even after you’ve set the book down for the night.

“The Taken Ones” deserves the highest praise, particularly for its enigmatic conclusion that lingers in the mind. The story cries out for continuation. The unresolved fate of Van and Harry’s relationship haunts me, and I find myself craving resolution with surprising intensity. Looking forward to Book #2!

"Phantoms" by Dean Koontz

 Strong start, so-so finish -- 4 stars

After reading “Pulse of the Earth” by Christopher Andrews, I actively sought another book by my other favorite author: Dean R. Koontz!

Rather than picking up his latest, I decided to again seek out one of his earlier hits, and that’s how I ended up reading “Phantoms.”

“Phantoms” opens with an eerie setup: Dr. Jenny Paige returns to her mountain home in the Sierras with her teenage sister Lisa in tow, as Lisa was recently orphaned by their mother’s death. But what should be a bustling ski village sits unnervingly still -- no pedestrians on sidewalks, no cars moving along streets. Once inside Jenny’s house, they discover the house keeper sprawled on the kitchen floor, her skin mottled with bruises, her body distended, though bearing no obvious wounds to explain her actual demise.

Jenny and Lisa trudge back into the silent town, stepping over severed limbs and mangled corpses until they discover a functional phone. The sheriff arrives from the neighboring county with deputies in tow, but the concrete cause of all this death still eludes them -- as do the whereabouts of half the town’s residents. And as night falls, an unseen presence stalks their search party, leaving behind only screams and viscera where human beings once stood.

Koontz has a knack for pulling readers into his plots, and his talent for crafting believable characters (though they can get repetitive across multiple books) shines in “Phantoms.” However, this time the story’s trajectory eventually lost some of its grip on me, veering into increasingly implausible territory that, frankly, bordered on the ridiculous. The narrative’s descent into theological musings -- contemplating God and Satan, the eternal struggle between light and darkness, humanity’s inherent nature -- felt unnecessary.

The cosmic battle between capital-G Good and capital-E Evil can be a tricky literary device. This philosophical detour in “Phantoms,” combined with a disappointingly saccharine conclusion, diminished my appreciation for the overall novel a bit.

What began as a thrilling premise ultimately faded into a somewhat unsatisfying resolution.