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Cameron has given up on romance, after a difficult childhood made it difficult for him to trust enough for intimate relationships to develop. But mostly he’s happy with the life he’s built for himself.
When two paranormal investigators show up at the home he recently inherited, claiming he may be in danger, he sends them packing, convinced they’re nothing but con men.
Until several incidents prove they’re telling the truth. The past Cameron tried so hard to leave behind is coming for him, and it’s angry.
Excerpt
Cameron hesitated. Okay, so Reid had gotten something right. Cameron hadn’t ever believed in psychics before, but he couldn’t doubt the evidence he saw before him. Not unless he was willing to believe in a conspiracy of a whole host of people, former lovers and his closest friends, all aimed at him. No one had any real incentive to do that to him. “My grandfather,” he said. “Catherine’s father.” He took a deep breath. “We’d lost touch, over the years. I think he might have tried to raise some concerns with the state, when we were young.” His hands wanted to shake, but he refused to let them. “We didn’t see him after that. He tried to get custody of me and David after … but anyway, he wasn’t able to and we didn’t hear from him again.” He made himself shrug and looked away.
“So he left you the house?” Jason leaned forward.
“Who else was he going to leave it to? I was the last grandkid standing.” Cameron snorted. “What’s your obsession with the house? There’s nothing special about it. It’s a duplex. It’s an old duplex. It’s got some nice wide plank flooring, I think, and the windows on the second floor are pretty sweet. That’s about it.”
“I don’t know.” Reid shrugged. “I think you’re in danger, in that house. I don’t know why. I saw a lot of blood. How long has it been in your family?”
“My great-grandfather bought it when he retired and sold his fishing boat.” Cameron closed his eyes. “I think that might have been in the 1950s. It could have been earlier, I’m not positive. My grandfather inherited it from him, and then I got it from him.”
“Did anyone ever die in that house?” Jason munched on a French fry, like this was a perfectly normal conversation to be having.
“It was built in the 1850s. I’m sure plenty of people died in that house. People got sick and died like a game of Oregon Trail back then.” Cameron rolled his eyes. “It’s not haunted.”
“Even if it were, those kinds of deaths wouldn’t be enough to give me a premonition all the way down in South Carolina. They’re not connected to your family, and this is the kind of case that almost always has some kind of family connection. Do you think maybe your mother reached out to warn me, from beyond the grave?”
Cameron laughed. He laughed so hard he had to prop his elbows on the table and hold his head up with his hands. “No,” he said, when he could speak again. He knew that his companions, and most of the other people in the restaurant, were looking at him like he’d lost his mind, and right now he didn’t care. “No. Catherine wouldn’t have crossed the street to spit on me if I was on fire. Hell, she’d have poured gasoline on.” He took a deep breath. Teixeira family drama wasn’t these guys’ business. “But she certainly didn’t die in the house, and she hadn’t been back there in a good eighteen years before she died.”
Jason bit his lip. It was an adorable look on him, Cameron realized, and in that moment he kind of hated Reid for bringing up just how long it had been for him. The last person he needed to be thinking about was Jason Tighe. “What was your mo – what was Catherine in for?”
Cameron had to give Jason some credit for the switch. “Murder,” he said, turning slightly to address Jason directly. “She killed my sister, Ashley.” If he didn’t look at the remains of the burger on Jason’s plate, maybe he wouldn’t have to see Ashley’s blood spilling out onto the dirty carpet again. “But it wasn’t in that house. Until I inherited it, I hadn’t set foot in it since I was about seven.”
“Huh.” Reid lifted his eyebrows for a second and then turned back to his drink. “I’d really like to take a look at your place. Just to take a look around.”
Cameron rolled his head back and blew the air out of his lungs. “I don’t believe in ghosts. My house isn’t haunted. Nothing’s going on there that would put me in danger. I mean I’ll buy your whole psychic … thing … I guess. I don’t necessarily get it, but I don’t have to. But ghosts? Come on. Next thing you’ll want me to believe in is werewolves.”
Jason chuckled. “There’s a whole wide, wonderful world out there of which the general public is blissfully unaware. How about if we stick with the facts, and you can draw your own conclusions about what’s going on when everything shakes out?” He sipped from his beer. “Have you been having problems with the place? Issues with the wiring, maybe?”
Cameron rolled his eyes. “It’s been windy. Everyone in the neighborhood’s had a few brownouts.”
Reid bobbed his head from side to side. “How about the plumbing?”
“DPW was flushing out a water main upstream after a break. I called.” Okay, so water was usually brown after a water main break, not red, but they’d admitted to problems and that was good enough for Cameron.
Jason grinned in triumph. “So there have been problems.”
Cameron fixed him with a look. “Once. And it had a perfectly reasonable explanation.”
Reid gave him another one of those gentle smiles. “Look. You accept the idea that I’m psychic, right? So there wouldn’t be any harm in letting me look around the place just to make sure.”
“This is a bad idea.” Cameron glared at both of them. “I’ve had to call the police on both of you. One of you twice,” he added with an extra glower for Jason, who blew a kiss at him in return.
Reviews
I was pretty conflicted about this book. On the one hand the paranormal aspects were very well handled and extremely interesting. And while the beginning was a little choppy once the story picked up I couldn’t put the book down. On the other hand, I hated Jason. He was one of the ghost hunters and the love interest, and I think Cameron deserved better. He started out an ass, he continued to be rude and cruel throughout the book, and by the end we were told to forgive him because he had reasons to be so awful. Yeah, no, that won’t fly. Like I said he started out bad so saying “he’s just worried because he LOVES you, and when he worries he acts out” doesn’t work. He was awful before he even knew you, Cameron! But Jason made Cameron happy, and the paranormal aspects of the story were a much larger part of the book, so I did leave the book feeling satisfied.
The paranormal aspects of this book were extremely interesting, and while they were also very dark, the rules were consistent. And I was very fond of Cameron. He was a good man who had lived through some truly awful things, who deserved a happy life. Getting there took time, and I wish it hadn’t involved Jason, but he did find happiness and in the end that’s what mattered. Also, while this is listed as the first book in a series, Cameron’s story does wrap up nicely. I’m not sure what the next book will be about, perhaps another mission of the ghost hunters? Whatever it is, I’ll be sure to check it out.
Unfortunately, Jason wasn’t the only problem I had with this book. This book was a little choppy at points, particularly at the beginning. For example, Cameron firmly claimed that he didn’t believe in ghosts and that he wanted these rude strangers who claimed to be ghost hunters to leave and never come back. And I agreed with him 100%! Strange things started happening, but they had plausible explanations so he let them go. Reasonable! But then he talks to Reid (the other ghost hunter) and suddenly he’s swayed toward believing and it turns out he kept iron on him because of a childhood superstition. And suddenly I don’t understand what he’s thinking. Is he an unreliable narrator, who actually does believe in the paranormal? Is it really just a remnant of his childhood, or was he just downplaying his belief in ghosts? If we’d known about the iron earlier it might have made the transition smoother, and made his sudden belief more understandable. Moments like this came up occasionally, and it was bothersome, but when things were going smoothly the plot was entrancing.
I do recommend this book, especially to horror and paranormal fans. While this book did have some major problems that would usually result in a lower rating, the good parts of the book were so enjoyable that the overall feeling I was left with was positive.
– Ashley S.