Hold Back the Dark - a Bishop / Special Crimes Unit Novel

With this book, author Kay Hooper brings her characters back to their roots - tracking down and fighting the darkness that is pure, unrelenting evil! For twenty years now, Hooper has provided readers with quite a few intriguing, page-turning murder mysteries that involve power psychics and dark, almost supernatural evil that Noah Bishop and his ever-growing team of psychic government agents must stop. The books have pretty nearly all been exceptional (we won't mention that whole alien story in the third Bishop Files novel....), and it seems that they were all leading to this...

Hold Back the Dark sets up the ultimate battle between Bishop and his team and an all-powerful, rage-filled energy that is about to be let loose on the world. A select number of psychics across the globe get a "call." Go to Prosperity. These psychics - some we know, some are new to us - each receive the message in their own unique way. Some don't hesitate to answer the call. Some are reluctant, but still know they need to go. And one, in particular, has absolutely no desire to go; he would rather forget he has any psychic abilities and just have a normal life. But normal for a psychic in the world of Noah Bishop is non-existent!

A darkness is growing in Prosperity, North Carolina. It is affecting the people that live there. A family man goes down in his basement and blows his brains out with a shotgun. A loving mother brutally kills her mother and children and then sits down and goes to sleep. A real estate salesman shoots and kills two prospective buyers, then calmly sits on the front porch, oblivious to what he just did. A police officer puts his hands around his wife's through, ready to kill her at the very thought that she cheated on him. The sheriff is at a loss as to how to explain what is going on in his tiny little town - but one of his officers knows something is wrong. Something is coming, and it will take more than either of them have to offer to stop this unseen force.

Enter the Special Crimes Unit.

As usual, Hooper brings together a unique group of psychics, and not even they know why each of them is there. With individual powers, unique to each of them, they must learn to trust each other, to depend on one another, in order to survive the coming battle. Even Dalton Davenport, who is bitter and has absolutely no desire to be there, must not only come to terms with the power he possesses, but he must face the fact that he is there for a purpose. This is what I really love about Hooper's books - they are all about the characters. Yes, there are horrific crimes that happen. Yes, there is always a big battle at the end, where the good guys face down the bad guys. And, yes, sometimes an innocent life is lost before all is said and done. But when it all comes down to it, these stories are about the people, about their lifes, their loves, and their learning how to cope with the unexplainable.

I enjoyed meeting Olivia, Logan, Reno, Dalton, Victoria, and Sully - I do hope that we see more of them in coming books. It was also cool to see Dr. Jill Eason, who appeared in Wait for Dark, as the medical examiner. Having some of the "non-essential" characters pop up now and again keep the continuity flowing and keep the world of the SCU grounded in some level of reality (even though we all know it's fiction).  How Hooper is able to keep all of these ever-growing number of psychics straight is a testament to her writing ability - plus, the sheer magnitude of the stories themselves!

Now, I won't spoil it by revealing the identity of the culprit, but I will admit I was kind of disappointed by the final confrontation. After all of the build up and the suspense leading up to it, plus the coming storm that was developing just over the town - I was really expecting a huge, all-out war. Instead, the final battle pretty much completes itself in just a couple of pages, with a not-so-spectacular climax that felt - well, very anti-climactic.  From everything that was building up within the story, I really was expecting this to be a culmination of ALL of the dark battles the teams have been fighting over the past 20 years - and maybe I just let me imagination run away with me.  It's my hope that Hooper is just laying the groundwork for something even bigger - and based upon her writing up until now, I will keep my trust in her to continue building the teams and building the suspense.

Overall, this was another fantastic read.  I see that another book, Hidden Salem, is set to come out later this year, so I know the SCU is not over yet, thank God!  Can't wait to see what Hooper has in store next!

RATING:  8 squeaky clean whiteboards out of 10 for holding back the dark in yet another tale of psychic suspense that keeps the fans' appetite whetted for more!