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Haven operative Luther Brinkman has been sent into the wilderness of the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee to locate escaped felon Cole Jacoby, a mentally unstable bank robber. Supposedly, Jacoby hid more than ten million dollars from his last heist before he was captured—and rather mysteriously escaped federal custody. And once Brinkman finds Jacoby, the agent is left severely wounded, with no way to convey his location to Haven.
Callie Davis, an agent with the FBI’s Special Crimes Unit, has been in the area for some time, due to the foresight of her boss and unit chief, Noah Bishop. But when she finds the wounded Brinkman, her rescue mission turns into a deadly game of cat and mouse.
What neither Luther nor Callie know is that their quarry is far more than an escaped bank robber. And that in hunting him, they will find themselves being hunted by him, and will discover him to be the worst monster either of them has ever known.
Callie Davis, an agent with the FBI’s Special Crimes Unit, has been in the area for some time, due to the foresight of her boss and unit chief, Noah Bishop. But when she finds the wounded Brinkman, her rescue mission turns into a deadly game of cat and mouse.
What neither Luther nor Callie know is that their quarry is far more than an escaped bank robber. And that in hunting him, they will find themselves being hunted by him, and will discover him to be the worst monster either of them has ever known.
306 pages, Hardcover
First published November 26, 2013
430 people are currently reading
2687 people want to read
About the author
Kay Hooper
97 books2,448 followersKay Hooper (aka Kay Robbins) was born in California, in an air force base hospital since her father was stationed there at the time. The family moved back to North Carolina shortly afterward, so she was raised and went to school there.
The oldest of three children, Kay has a brother two years younger and a sister seven years younger. Her father and brother are builders who own a highly respected construction company, and her mother worked for many years in personnel management before becoming Kay's personal assistant, a position she held until her untimely death in March 2002. Kay's sister Linda works as her Business Manager, Events Coordinator, and is playing a major role in the creation and operation of The Kay Hooper Foundation.
Kay graduated from East Rutherford High School and attended Isothermal Community College — where she quickly discovered that business classes did not in any way enthrall her. Switching to more involving courses such as history and literature, she also began to concentrate on writing, which had been a longtime interest. Very quickly hooked, she asked for a Christmas typewriter and began seriously working on her first novel. That book, a Regency romance titled Lady Thief, sold to Dell Publishing in 1980. She has since published more than 60 novels and four novellas.
Kay is single and lives in a very small town in North Carolina, not far from her father and siblings. Deigning to live with her are a flock of cats — Bonnie, Ginger, Oscar, Tuffy, Felix, Renny, and Isabel — of various personalities who all like sleeping on manuscripts and whatever research happens to be spread across Kay's desk. And living amongst the many felines are two cheerfully tolerant dogs, a shelter rescue, Bandit, who looks rather like a small sheepdog, and a Sheltie named Lizzie.
The oldest of three children, Kay has a brother two years younger and a sister seven years younger. Her father and brother are builders who own a highly respected construction company, and her mother worked for many years in personnel management before becoming Kay's personal assistant, a position she held until her untimely death in March 2002. Kay's sister Linda works as her Business Manager, Events Coordinator, and is playing a major role in the creation and operation of The Kay Hooper Foundation.
Kay graduated from East Rutherford High School and attended Isothermal Community College — where she quickly discovered that business classes did not in any way enthrall her. Switching to more involving courses such as history and literature, she also began to concentrate on writing, which had been a longtime interest. Very quickly hooked, she asked for a Christmas typewriter and began seriously working on her first novel. That book, a Regency romance titled Lady Thief, sold to Dell Publishing in 1980. She has since published more than 60 novels and four novellas.
Kay is single and lives in a very small town in North Carolina, not far from her father and siblings. Deigning to live with her are a flock of cats — Bonnie, Ginger, Oscar, Tuffy, Felix, Renny, and Isabel — of various personalities who all like sleeping on manuscripts and whatever research happens to be spread across Kay's desk. And living amongst the many felines are two cheerfully tolerant dogs, a shelter rescue, Bandit, who looks rather like a small sheepdog, and a Sheltie named Lizzie.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 303 reviews
December 18, 2013
I was very disappointed with the book #14 of the Bishop series. Hooper goes on for 200 pages with two sets of characters conversing about nearly nothing important to the story marking time till she trys to wrap it all together at the end. I think Hooper has been infected with bad energy in her last few attempts. Someone open the door so she can pass through this vortex and move on.
November 28, 2013
You would think by now everyone would be getting tired of Bishop and his manipulations. What makes it worse is that everyone knows what he is doing, they even call him out on it, but he just keeps playing all mysterious. At some point this will come back to bite him and I can't wait.
There was so much blah in this book. The most interesting part was how one of the physics, Callie, had the ability to speak with her dog, Caesar. I loved the relationship that these 2 had, wished that it would have played a bigger part.
There was so much blah in this book. The most interesting part was how one of the physics, Callie, had the ability to speak with her dog, Caesar. I loved the relationship that these 2 had, wished that it would have played a bigger part.
October 31, 2014
I felt as if this book was a flickering candle....it was driving me insane, there is so much going on its like she jumbled all these characters together flipped back and forth between all of them to the point where you either couldn't keep up or the dialogue was so uninteresting that you could less whether or not you finished the book.... I picked up the book and read the prologue thinking this is exactly what I am going to like... only to realize 200 pages in this book isn't even really related to the prologue until the end. I had to force myself to finish this.... so so so disappointed :( its takes a lot for me to say a book is horrible and such a waste of time...
June 6, 2016
Kay Hooper's books have always had a slew of multiple POVs between characters within the book, which I never minded--although if not done properly, it could become a big, distracting, channel surfing mess. In this book, we see more than just multiple POVs, we actually see two sets of main characters and what's going on between them... Luther Brinkman and Callie Davis on one side with their own goings-on; Hollis Templeton (!!!) and Reese DeMarco on another hand with their happenings.
And if you can't tell yet, or missed it when I mentioned it the first time, Hollis is my favorite Bishop/SCU character--something about her snarkiness speaks to me.
And while at first I didn't care for it (the switching of narrative between Team Callie/Luther and Team Hollis/DeMarco), after I thought about it, I decided that it actually made sense for this story and how everything connected in the end. In the long run, I decided to bump the rating up to an average 3.0 Stars because some time to think on the book made me realize that what I had found frustrating really wasn’t all that bad.
Story Blurb via Goodreads:
My Notes:
I guess here are some scattered thoughts I’d written down as I read the book as well as some more current thoughts that come to mind as I write this review:
-- The first chapter felt like there might be a sort of “Game of Cat and Mouse”. But then that doesn’t actually happen and I move on.
-- Again, there is a lot of “enigmatic” talking in circles going around and that gets more frustrating every time it happens and is really tugging at my last nerve. Bishop does it and it pisses off his operatives; Callie does it and it frustrates Luther… and me. Why can’t these people just stop keeping secrets in the name of “The Universe doesn’t think it’s time to reveal these facts yet”? It’s annoying!
-- A creepiness factor DOES come into play, even if it isn’t entirely spine-chillingly creepy. But we’ve got an evil killer being possessed by evil as one set of our good guys are trapped in an isolated cabin in the woods--MAJOR POTENTIAL for story! And then we’ve got our other set of good guys investigating something in an extremely haunted mansion--DOUBLE MAJOR POTENTIAL for story!
-- And then there’s Hollis and her strong mediumistic abilities and her ever evolving psychic abilities, trapped in a haunted mansion that is very, very haunted with lots of negative energy. I got excited about that one.
-- It took a long time for the book to actually start being a story rather than spending time discussing backstory and speculating current story. Because it wasn’t until the book itself started hinting that the two separate storylines in Hostage might be related that things started getting a bit more exciting.
And even though I’ve come to like the back and forth narration between the Callie/Luther pair and the Hollis/Reese pair, at the time, I found it hard to follow. Because until you reach the end of the book, the two tangent storylines just feel as if they should have been two different stories in two different books; there wasn’t even really a feeling that both tangents might intersect except that we know this is how a Kay Hooper book operates.
And I have to admit: I liked the new characters, Callie Davis and Luther Brinkman. And I feel like they kind of got cheated on their story because of Hollis and Reese taking up the other fifty percent of the book. Because the entire time that the story was progressing, I kept looking forward to seeing more of the Team Hollis/Reese side of the book and barely paid attention to the Team Callie/Luther side of things. It wasn’t fair to them--I like following Hollis more than any other of the SCU or Haven operatives.
But the Callie/Luther storyline and romantic developments had a lot of potential to be a singular, individual story all on its own. But unfortunately, they had to share.
-- And in the end, I’m not even entirely sure I know what actually took place in Hostage except for some haphazard telling of an evil entity full of negative energy that needed to be destroyed or contained or something…
A lot of the story got told through our exposition fairies: the SCU leader Noah Bishop and the Haven leader Maggie Garrett nee Barnes. Every few chapters we would jump back to those two to explain the happenings in the Callie/Luther world or the Hollis/Reese world… you know, in case, as the reader, you couldn’t quite figure out what was going on because “The Universe” was being overly vague again whenever we were actually reading about the two main conflicts with the two main couples.
And if you can't tell yet, or missed it when I mentioned it the first time, Hollis is my favorite Bishop/SCU character--something about her snarkiness speaks to me.
And while at first I didn't care for it (the switching of narrative between Team Callie/Luther and Team Hollis/DeMarco), after I thought about it, I decided that it actually made sense for this story and how everything connected in the end. In the long run, I decided to bump the rating up to an average 3.0 Stars because some time to think on the book made me realize that what I had found frustrating really wasn’t all that bad.
Story Blurb via Goodreads:
Haven operative Luther Brinkman has been sent into the wilderness of the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee to locate escaped felon Cole Jacoby, a mentally unstable bank robber. Supposedly, Jacoby hid more than ten million dollars from his last heist before he was captured—and rather mysteriously escaped federal custody. And once Brinkman finds Jacoby, the agent is left severely wounded, with no way to convey his location to Haven.
Callie Davis, an agent with the FBI’s Special Crimes Unit, has been in the area for some time, due to the foresight of her boss and unit chief, Noah Bishop. But when she finds the wounded Brinkman, her rescue mission turns into a deadly game of cat and mouse.
What neither Luther nor Callie know is that their quarry is far more than an escaped bank robber. And that in hunting him, they will find themselves being hunted by him, and will discover him to be the worst monster either of them has ever known.
My Notes:
I guess here are some scattered thoughts I’d written down as I read the book as well as some more current thoughts that come to mind as I write this review:
-- The first chapter felt like there might be a sort of “Game of Cat and Mouse”. But then that doesn’t actually happen and I move on.
-- Again, there is a lot of “enigmatic” talking in circles going around and that gets more frustrating every time it happens and is really tugging at my last nerve. Bishop does it and it pisses off his operatives; Callie does it and it frustrates Luther… and me. Why can’t these people just stop keeping secrets in the name of “The Universe doesn’t think it’s time to reveal these facts yet”? It’s annoying!
-- A creepiness factor DOES come into play, even if it isn’t entirely spine-chillingly creepy. But we’ve got an evil killer being possessed by evil as one set of our good guys are trapped in an isolated cabin in the woods--MAJOR POTENTIAL for story! And then we’ve got our other set of good guys investigating something in an extremely haunted mansion--DOUBLE MAJOR POTENTIAL for story!
-- And then there’s Hollis and her strong mediumistic abilities and her ever evolving psychic abilities, trapped in a haunted mansion that is very, very haunted with lots of negative energy. I got excited about that one.
-- It took a long time for the book to actually start being a story rather than spending time discussing backstory and speculating current story. Because it wasn’t until the book itself started hinting that the two separate storylines in Hostage might be related that things started getting a bit more exciting.
And even though I’ve come to like the back and forth narration between the Callie/Luther pair and the Hollis/Reese pair, at the time, I found it hard to follow. Because until you reach the end of the book, the two tangent storylines just feel as if they should have been two different stories in two different books; there wasn’t even really a feeling that both tangents might intersect except that we know this is how a Kay Hooper book operates.
And I have to admit: I liked the new characters, Callie Davis and Luther Brinkman. And I feel like they kind of got cheated on their story because of Hollis and Reese taking up the other fifty percent of the book. Because the entire time that the story was progressing, I kept looking forward to seeing more of the Team Hollis/Reese side of the book and barely paid attention to the Team Callie/Luther side of things. It wasn’t fair to them--I like following Hollis more than any other of the SCU or Haven operatives.
But the Callie/Luther storyline and romantic developments had a lot of potential to be a singular, individual story all on its own. But unfortunately, they had to share.
-- And in the end, I’m not even entirely sure I know what actually took place in Hostage except for some haphazard telling of an evil entity full of negative energy that needed to be destroyed or contained or something…
A lot of the story got told through our exposition fairies: the SCU leader Noah Bishop and the Haven leader Maggie Garrett nee Barnes. Every few chapters we would jump back to those two to explain the happenings in the Callie/Luther world or the Hollis/Reese world… you know, in case, as the reader, you couldn’t quite figure out what was going on because “The Universe” was being overly vague again whenever we were actually reading about the two main conflicts with the two main couples.
April 2, 2019
Ok, look. I can put up with a lot of wild things in books I read. Psychics, magic, shifters, whatever, but when this "heroine" psychically talks to her dog AND THE DOG TALKS BACK IN FULL SENTENCES. SOME OF THEM EVEN COMPLEX SENTENCES AND UNDERSTANDS METAPHORS, I'm noping the fuck out. This was the last straw for me with this author. Stick a fork in me. I'm done. The ONLY reason I kept going to the very end is I wanted a resolution to the subplot in this book with Hollis and this estate she was staying in.
November 10, 2020
Wow! Hollis sure has slowly come to be the silent center of the series. With amazing new abilities, and mind boggling powers... Just how powerful will she get?!
Evil. Conscious, dark, and malignant. Evil stirs, with a consciousness born from the blackest hate.
Plotting and scheming. Lying and deceiving. Evil roams... Holding it's unwary victims hostage.
Evil. Conscious, dark, and malignant. Evil stirs, with a consciousness born from the blackest hate.
Plotting and scheming. Lying and deceiving. Evil roams... Holding it's unwary victims hostage.
March 7, 2017
Although the summary paints Hostage as a book about Callie and Luther, it isn't. Not exactly. Hostage is actually split into two seemingly completely separate stories: one set in the mountains, surrounding the mystery of Cole Jacoby, and one set in a haunted mansion. What ties these two stories together is Evil.
And that Evil is probably my biggest problem (although 'problem' may not be the correct term) with this book. One of Kay Hooper's strongest points, in my opinion, are her serial killers. But in the last few books, Hooper has made the villain not-quite-human literally. And that, for me, does not work. Not in this setting. Because abstract evil requires either epicness to balance it out or something truly twisted. In SCU books, so far, it's been mostly anti-climactic.
Callie and Luther, in particular, did not fit this kind of villain. They make up one half of the Hostage story, but theirs is a story founded mostly on endless explanations and not much else. Nothing truly happens in those mountains, except talk about energy. Which is truly sad because I feel like Cole Jacoby, in the beginning, had a lot of potential to be interesting. He was the first villain for whom I truly felt bad, especially when he interacted with his dogs. (But hey, at least there was a lot of coffee and dog appreciation going on. That's always a massive plus. #priorities)
But onto things that I adored, and not for the first time:
Everyone and Bishop. It keeps getting better. From the unit's utter faith in Bishop's Very Secretive plans and Things That Have To Happen The Way They Happen, to the Endless Exasperation when all is said and done. Hollis, in particular, takes the crown in this one because I don't think anyone has ever threatened to deal with Bishop in the most mature way, aka kick him in the shins while looking him in the eye. (But Tony is a close runner-up because Tony is always the one truly dealing with Bishop.) It's so beautiful. SCU team feels. Always.
Reese and Hollis. I CANNOT WITH THESE TWO. Due to the nature of SCU books, there is usually very little humour in them. BUT THESE TWO. Aside from being perfect for each other, they are currently in the longest state of getting together and it's beautiful and they provide so much entertainment with their banter. It's such joy to see Hollis simultaneously open up to someone else while also get closer and closer to the ultimate breaking point. After all, even cats have only so many lives...
And that Evil is probably my biggest problem (although 'problem' may not be the correct term) with this book. One of Kay Hooper's strongest points, in my opinion, are her serial killers. But in the last few books, Hooper has made the villain not-quite-human literally. And that, for me, does not work. Not in this setting. Because abstract evil requires either epicness to balance it out or something truly twisted. In SCU books, so far, it's been mostly anti-climactic.
Callie and Luther, in particular, did not fit this kind of villain. They make up one half of the Hostage story, but theirs is a story founded mostly on endless explanations and not much else. Nothing truly happens in those mountains, except talk about energy. Which is truly sad because I feel like Cole Jacoby, in the beginning, had a lot of potential to be interesting. He was the first villain for whom I truly felt bad, especially when he interacted with his dogs. (But hey, at least there was a lot of coffee and dog appreciation going on. That's always a massive plus. #priorities)
But onto things that I adored, and not for the first time:
Everyone and Bishop. It keeps getting better. From the unit's utter faith in Bishop's Very Secretive plans and Things That Have To Happen The Way They Happen, to the Endless Exasperation when all is said and done. Hollis, in particular, takes the crown in this one because I don't think anyone has ever threatened to deal with Bishop in the most mature way, aka kick him in the shins while looking him in the eye. (But Tony is a close runner-up because Tony is always the one truly dealing with Bishop.) It's so beautiful. SCU team feels. Always.
Reese and Hollis. I CANNOT WITH THESE TWO. Due to the nature of SCU books, there is usually very little humour in them. BUT THESE TWO. Aside from being perfect for each other, they are currently in the longest state of getting together and it's beautiful and they provide so much entertainment with their banter. It's such joy to see Hollis simultaneously open up to someone else while also get closer and closer to the ultimate breaking point. After all, even cats have only so many lives...
January 14, 2021
One reason that I love Bishop is because of what others refer to as his manipulations no don't get me wrong I am not a manipulator's defender but the reason why I don't consider his silence as manipulation is because the moment he will tell the people what can happen is the moment an alternate reality will take place instead of the one he witnessed in his vision thereby, now having to encounter a future that he has no knowledge for. Therefore, I believe it is smart of him to only tell everything when he wants to alter the course of events, else sticking to slight hints while putting his entire faith in his people's judgment and skills.
In this book, I particularly loved him.
Hollis and Reese are special and pretty interesting, and Hollis's skills, Reese's support keeps on blowing my mind.
Callie and Luther were engaging to some extent but the rest of the engagement part was obviously filled by Callie's dogs.
I loved when the dogs were sent, it was like a slight ray of light in the obvious and enormous darkness.
The ending was amazing, suspense well-crafted, and overall I really liked the book.
In this book, I particularly loved him.
Hollis and Reese are special and pretty interesting, and Hollis's skills, Reese's support keeps on blowing my mind.
Callie and Luther were engaging to some extent but the rest of the engagement part was obviously filled by Callie's dogs.
I loved when the dogs were sent, it was like a slight ray of light in the obvious and enormous darkness.
The ending was amazing, suspense well-crafted, and overall I really liked the book.
December 9, 2021
I enjoyed this the fourteenth in the Bishop/Special Crimes Unit. (Haven#2) A group of psychics working for the FBI how cool is that? Haven operative Luther Brinkman along with Agent Callie Davis of the FBI/SCU are on a mission to find an escaped felon in the Appalachian Mountains. But who is hunting whom? enjoy.
February 13, 2014
I had never read a Kay Hooper book before, receiving this one as a Christmas present, I didn't know that the book was one of a series. That being said, I think the book held up as it's own story, not having to read the rest of the series to enjoy the story. However, I felt like the first 200 pages go on and on slowly building tension for the very anticlimactic conclusion. At times it was hard to get through a chapter because it couldn't hold my attention, and others I breezed through only to be disappointed with another character switch. Before I fully make up my mind about this author, I think I'm going to have to read the series from the beginning.
July 7, 2014
This one has too much information about various paranormal abilities of the differing introduced or static characters who are associated with Haven, and far too little plot. The storyline has absolutely become a secondary aspect and by #14 it seems to be more about displaying the abilities and Bishop manipulating the entire than the actual present on-going crime. Some parts were enjoyable but most were barely so so and long winded at that. 2.5 star, but I'm being generous in the round up for a couple of interesting side tracks. But I'm also sure I won't be reading more of these.
February 10, 2016
I'm re-introducing myself to Kay Hooper thanks to a friend of mine. I forgot just how good her books could be. Wonderful characters and a great mix of suspense and paranormal. The writing is solid and I find myself quite invested in wanting to learn more about this series. It's a great escape.
December 10, 2013
FANTASTIC....... NOT SAYING ANYTHING ELSE.. OR I'LL SPOIL IT!!!!!
May 30, 2016
Really good
I really liked this one. I've read them all. This one's worth it for sure. Brings together allot of different characters
I really liked this one. I've read them all. This one's worth it for sure. Brings together allot of different characters
October 12, 2016
I liked the different characters and the part they played. I didn't like that Bishop didn't answer the final question of who was behind all this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 24, 2017
If it says Bishop Special Unit I'm on it
August 13, 2021
Could not get interested in this book. Not like the other Bishop SCU.
June 12, 2020
The Haven Series thus far has been my favorite of the last 8 books. This is a pretty good story.
The story is about a fugitive from federal custody who escaped possibly using psychic powers. On one side of the story you have Luther and Callie. Luther is a Haven operative with the ability to blend in and then immediately doesnt blend in during his search for the fugitive (a bit frustrating). He meets Callie, a member of the SCU watching the fugitive and the negative energies he has around him, trying to suss out what it is. As well, he meets Callie's dog Cesar which is probably the best part of this book. She is able to communicate with him and I love that.
Again, I think Kay Hooper rushed the ended and definitely rushed Luther and Callie's flirtation at the end, sort of like an after thought which I find to be very frustrating in her evolution as an author. She completely forgot about closing Nash's involvement. Much of the time of the book is fluff, and not even fulfilling fluff. It is getting increasingly frustrating to have references to conversations we never get to see. It is almost as if Kay is not spending the time to fully flesh out her characters before she bothers to introduce them to us and has no idea how to fill the pages until the action at the end of the book. There was nothing of substance until the end when Kay remembers she has to wrap things up.
Her switching between scenes was actually a little jarring this go round and I found it to be weirdly inconvenient and disorienting. Probably due to the fact that she kept rambling and fluffing and there was sometimes not a natural end to a scene, just a jarring stop to pick up a different scene. I did like the scenes with the fugitive Jacob. You could read his despair and the insistence of the voices. And the end action scene was pretty well put together.
Bishop himself. That's a fun one. *sarcasm*. Everyone keeps saying Bishop is going to mess up with his keeping secrets and thus far, I haven't seen him do it so it feels very impotent for characters to be super angry with him about it. Like, you either trust him or you don't. Either you understand and do the thing, or you don't. There is inevitably going to be like 5 conversations in the course of the book that go like this:
"Bishop kept this a secret and now we have to jump through hoops and hope we get it right. Im angry."
"Well I am livid."
"Yeah but this is just Bishop."
"One day he is going to get someone killed."
"He never has before."
"Im still angry, I am going to give him a piece of my mind.(which that person never does)"
"Somethings have to happen the way they happen."
"I know I know, grump."
Nobody ever quits because he puts them in a life threatening situation with little to know information. Nobody ever actually spits in his face and calls him out in the books. They just chalk each win up to the ether and forget about their anger. I could easily skip over the 5 pages each dedicated to these conversations throughout the books.
tldr: It was a fun read but if you are getting tired of Bishop, find another series.
The story is about a fugitive from federal custody who escaped possibly using psychic powers. On one side of the story you have Luther and Callie. Luther is a Haven operative with the ability to blend in and then immediately doesnt blend in during his search for the fugitive (a bit frustrating). He meets Callie, a member of the SCU watching the fugitive and the negative energies he has around him, trying to suss out what it is. As well, he meets Callie's dog Cesar which is probably the best part of this book. She is able to communicate with him and I love that.
Again, I think Kay Hooper rushed the ended and definitely rushed Luther and Callie's flirtation at the end, sort of like an after thought which I find to be very frustrating in her evolution as an author. She completely forgot about closing Nash's involvement. Much of the time of the book is fluff, and not even fulfilling fluff. It is getting increasingly frustrating to have references to conversations we never get to see. It is almost as if Kay is not spending the time to fully flesh out her characters before she bothers to introduce them to us and has no idea how to fill the pages until the action at the end of the book. There was nothing of substance until the end when Kay remembers she has to wrap things up.
Her switching between scenes was actually a little jarring this go round and I found it to be weirdly inconvenient and disorienting. Probably due to the fact that she kept rambling and fluffing and there was sometimes not a natural end to a scene, just a jarring stop to pick up a different scene. I did like the scenes with the fugitive Jacob. You could read his despair and the insistence of the voices. And the end action scene was pretty well put together.
Bishop himself. That's a fun one. *sarcasm*. Everyone keeps saying Bishop is going to mess up with his keeping secrets and thus far, I haven't seen him do it so it feels very impotent for characters to be super angry with him about it. Like, you either trust him or you don't. Either you understand and do the thing, or you don't. There is inevitably going to be like 5 conversations in the course of the book that go like this:
"Bishop kept this a secret and now we have to jump through hoops and hope we get it right. Im angry."
"Well I am livid."
"Yeah but this is just Bishop."
"One day he is going to get someone killed."
"He never has before."
"Im still angry, I am going to give him a piece of my mind.(which that person never does)"
"Somethings have to happen the way they happen."
"I know I know, grump."
Nobody ever quits because he puts them in a life threatening situation with little to know information. Nobody ever actually spits in his face and calls him out in the books. They just chalk each win up to the ether and forget about their anger. I could easily skip over the 5 pages each dedicated to these conversations throughout the books.
tldr: It was a fun read but if you are getting tired of Bishop, find another series.
September 24, 2019
3.5
Haven sends their operative, Luther Brinkman, to a small mountain town after a known fugitive and bank robber, Cole Jacoby. He's shot in the pursuit of Cole and is rescued by one of Bishop's SCU agents, Callie Davis, who is living undercover and also tracking Cole Jacoby, but for a different reason. They believe he might be psychic and even more of a danger than they originally suspected. And the psychic darkness emanating from Jacoby's vicinity, is terrifying proof of this. Meanwhile, Hollis and Reese are nearby on a totally different mission that may end up intersecting Luther and Callie's mission. Hollis is bent on learning to control her gift/curse by specifically looking for a spirit outside of a case. What she finds is a whole lot more than she bargained for and what she experiences may finally help balance out her powers and linking her ever closer to Reese.
On the whole, I wanted to give this a 4, mostly because I finally got some more Hollis and a bit more development in her relationship with Reese...which has still pretty much gone nowhere after six months. There's chemistry between Reese and Hollis, but it's a slow burn type. I think I miss the romance part of these stories now that the author has largely left it behind her. I'm shipping Reese and Hollis at this point, but I have a feeling the pay off is going to be underwhelming. Hollis got a lot of insight into her abilities and what makes her so special and she and Reese connected a bit more. I REALLY enjoyed their particular half of the case and kept looking forward to it...Callie and Luther not so much. These two were pretty boring, which is unfortunate since they were the closest geographically to the villain. Callie's ability to talk to her dog was pretty fascinating and probably the best part of this whole storyline. Luther was bland and uninteresting and we got absolutely none of his background, while Callie could have been far more interesting if she hadn't been fighting Hollis for page time (let's face it, Hollis is ten times more interesting). I think our newer characters aren't being developed quite enough. There was absolutely no chemistry between these two, yet there was a suggestion that Luther was interested in taking their relationship to another level. I just didn't care. I did like the suspense plot and how the two ended up connecting in the end, but the characters spent a lot more time talking about the negative psychic energy, hashing out possibilities and jumping to eerily accurate conclusions about the villain (I mean they are psychic...) that there wasn't much in the way of action all around. Will finish this series out, but I fear it may have lost its momentum. Hoping it can pick back up.
Haven sends their operative, Luther Brinkman, to a small mountain town after a known fugitive and bank robber, Cole Jacoby. He's shot in the pursuit of Cole and is rescued by one of Bishop's SCU agents, Callie Davis, who is living undercover and also tracking Cole Jacoby, but for a different reason. They believe he might be psychic and even more of a danger than they originally suspected. And the psychic darkness emanating from Jacoby's vicinity, is terrifying proof of this. Meanwhile, Hollis and Reese are nearby on a totally different mission that may end up intersecting Luther and Callie's mission. Hollis is bent on learning to control her gift/curse by specifically looking for a spirit outside of a case. What she finds is a whole lot more than she bargained for and what she experiences may finally help balance out her powers and linking her ever closer to Reese.
On the whole, I wanted to give this a 4, mostly because I finally got some more Hollis and a bit more development in her relationship with Reese...which has still pretty much gone nowhere after six months. There's chemistry between Reese and Hollis, but it's a slow burn type. I think I miss the romance part of these stories now that the author has largely left it behind her. I'm shipping Reese and Hollis at this point, but I have a feeling the pay off is going to be underwhelming. Hollis got a lot of insight into her abilities and what makes her so special and she and Reese connected a bit more. I REALLY enjoyed their particular half of the case and kept looking forward to it...Callie and Luther not so much. These two were pretty boring, which is unfortunate since they were the closest geographically to the villain. Callie's ability to talk to her dog was pretty fascinating and probably the best part of this whole storyline. Luther was bland and uninteresting and we got absolutely none of his background, while Callie could have been far more interesting if she hadn't been fighting Hollis for page time (let's face it, Hollis is ten times more interesting). I think our newer characters aren't being developed quite enough. There was absolutely no chemistry between these two, yet there was a suggestion that Luther was interested in taking their relationship to another level. I just didn't care. I did like the suspense plot and how the two ended up connecting in the end, but the characters spent a lot more time talking about the negative psychic energy, hashing out possibilities and jumping to eerily accurate conclusions about the villain (I mean they are psychic...) that there wasn't much in the way of action all around. Will finish this series out, but I fear it may have lost its momentum. Hoping it can pick back up.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 19, 2022
Once I got about four chapters in, I couldn’t wait to finish this book — not because it’s good, but so I could move on to another I’d like better. It’s starts off with a girl named Shayna in the prologue, who I’m assuming is the “Hostage” from the title, but it never comes back to her at all, which makes the title lose meaning, because I didn’t see a hostage situation anywhere in the actual text (just the prologue).
Then we have two pairs of agents, each pair is a psychic woman and a man who is gaining his psychic abilities, in two separate locations, that the book toggles back and forth between in each chapter several times, and the author uses their first and last names interchangeably, which is super confusing because of their similarities. There are two other male agents that are in another location that Hooper refers to by both first and last names, but again, this is confusing too because she never introduces them with their first and last names together. You have to figure it out. They all drive Jeeps too. I mean, there are so many options in our world to differentiate characters and things that make them unique that it seemed really odd and confusing.
The middle of the book is wrought with tons of dialogue with agents speculating about “dark energy” constantly and creating this strange piecemeal of a plot line that’s supposed to solve a crime without any hard evidence. There’s barely any narration in some parts, which makes the text pretty dry, especially with the way the agents speak in fragmented sentences. There were several conversations without dialogue tags, and during the climax, there were italicized thoughts from at least three people/animals, also without tags, which made it super confusing. I just kind of sped through without even trying to decipher who was thinking or saying what though because of the lame plot line and my desire to just want to finish the book as quickly as possible.
This book was just really strange, disjointed, and poorly written, to be honest. It’s supposed to be a crime novel, but the majority is just these weird, speculative conversations about energy, not examining evidence like most detectives solving crimes would do. Apparently, this book is part of a series, but I doubt I’ll read anything by this author again. I also won’t save this book for my classroom or personal bookshelves; it’ll be donated. I’m quite surprised the ratings here are as high as they are. I was not a fan of this book at all.
Then we have two pairs of agents, each pair is a psychic woman and a man who is gaining his psychic abilities, in two separate locations, that the book toggles back and forth between in each chapter several times, and the author uses their first and last names interchangeably, which is super confusing because of their similarities. There are two other male agents that are in another location that Hooper refers to by both first and last names, but again, this is confusing too because she never introduces them with their first and last names together. You have to figure it out. They all drive Jeeps too. I mean, there are so many options in our world to differentiate characters and things that make them unique that it seemed really odd and confusing.
The middle of the book is wrought with tons of dialogue with agents speculating about “dark energy” constantly and creating this strange piecemeal of a plot line that’s supposed to solve a crime without any hard evidence. There’s barely any narration in some parts, which makes the text pretty dry, especially with the way the agents speak in fragmented sentences. There were several conversations without dialogue tags, and during the climax, there were italicized thoughts from at least three people/animals, also without tags, which made it super confusing. I just kind of sped through without even trying to decipher who was thinking or saying what though because of the lame plot line and my desire to just want to finish the book as quickly as possible.
This book was just really strange, disjointed, and poorly written, to be honest. It’s supposed to be a crime novel, but the majority is just these weird, speculative conversations about energy, not examining evidence like most detectives solving crimes would do. Apparently, this book is part of a series, but I doubt I’ll read anything by this author again. I also won’t save this book for my classroom or personal bookshelves; it’ll be donated. I’m quite surprised the ratings here are as high as they are. I was not a fan of this book at all.
December 31, 2023
Hostage
4 Stars
Haven operative Luther Brinkman is sent to surveil a seemingly innocuous bank robber, who escaped from federal custody. What begins as a routine case, takes a dangerous turn when the subject turns out to be more than he appears, and Luthor finds himself fighting for his life together with Callie Davis, an FBI agent with the Special Crimes Unit.
Series note: Due to recurring characters and references to events in previous books, this series should be read in order. This is particularly important in this book as it continues events from the Blood trilogy.
Every once in a while, Hooper writes a story that convinces me to stay the course with this series despite my issues with it. This is a prime example.
The narrative revolves around two separate threads that ultimately coalesce, and Hooper cleverly weaves the two storylines into a cohesive whole. The first focus is on Luther and Callie's encounters with a wanted criminal while the second is on Hollis Templeton and her new partner, Reese DeMarco's visit to a 19th-century estate on a quest to help Hollis control her abilities.
Despite the lack of any romantic elements, the relationships between Luther and Callie as well as Hollis and Reese are a highlight of the story. These two couples have tremendous potential, and Hooper will hopefully develop them without delay, something that she has unfortunately not done in the past.
There are definite Dean Koontz vibes in the plot, especially elements from two of my favorite Koontz books, Phantoms and Watchers. The idea of is riveting and adds an extra layer of tension to the suspense. Moreover, Callie's close connection to her loyal canine, Caesar, is wonderful. Hooper also thankfully avoids the TSTL moments that characterized the previous book in this trilogy and everyone behaves professionally and logically.
All in all, this is one of the better books in the series and I am eager to see what happens next.
4 Stars
Haven operative Luther Brinkman is sent to surveil a seemingly innocuous bank robber, who escaped from federal custody. What begins as a routine case, takes a dangerous turn when the subject turns out to be more than he appears, and Luthor finds himself fighting for his life together with Callie Davis, an FBI agent with the Special Crimes Unit.
Series note: Due to recurring characters and references to events in previous books, this series should be read in order. This is particularly important in this book as it continues events from the Blood trilogy.
Every once in a while, Hooper writes a story that convinces me to stay the course with this series despite my issues with it. This is a prime example.
The narrative revolves around two separate threads that ultimately coalesce, and Hooper cleverly weaves the two storylines into a cohesive whole. The first focus is on Luther and Callie's encounters with a wanted criminal while the second is on Hollis Templeton and her new partner, Reese DeMarco's visit to a 19th-century estate on a quest to help Hollis control her abilities.
Despite the lack of any romantic elements, the relationships between Luther and Callie as well as Hollis and Reese are a highlight of the story. These two couples have tremendous potential, and Hooper will hopefully develop them without delay, something that she has unfortunately not done in the past.
There are definite Dean Koontz vibes in the plot, especially elements from two of my favorite Koontz books, Phantoms and Watchers. The idea of is riveting and adds an extra layer of tension to the suspense. Moreover, Callie's close connection to her loyal canine, Caesar, is wonderful. Hooper also thankfully avoids the TSTL moments that characterized the previous book in this trilogy and everyone behaves professionally and logically.
All in all, this is one of the better books in the series and I am eager to see what happens next.
December 29, 2019
I gave this book a try and unfortunately I did not enjoy it at all. I found the stories to be confusing and had a hard time connecting with any of the characters. It seems like every other paragraph it jumps around a lot between either the scenes or the characters. Honestly, just when things are heating up or getting remotely interesting, we jump to another character or scene and all that was built up was lost to me. I know this is suppose to keep me interested to find out what happens to the characters later on but it just enforced a disconnect to them. I would have loved to seen more of the interaction with Callie's dog partner but nope we are only given a tiny bit of that. The book seems to be all over the place.
I expected a bit more for the climax but it ended up being rather anti-climatic. Like that is it? We built up to this epic thing and it is over just like that?! Maybe it might help if you started the series and read it in order instead of jumping in, otherwise a pass on this read.
I expected a bit more for the climax but it ended up being rather anti-climatic. Like that is it? We built up to this epic thing and it is over just like that?! Maybe it might help if you started the series and read it in order instead of jumping in, otherwise a pass on this read.
March 24, 2019
Review: Hostage by Kay Hooper.
Kay Hooper is a great writer but sometimes if the reader doesn’t keep track of the characters you will be lost from the start. I still loved the story which had a small amount of romance and a lot of paranormal scenes to carry the reader to the end. Hooper’s characters were interesting and this novel features FBI agents, private investigators and agents from a special crime unit who handle the worst most shocking and horrific most mysterious crimes.
The story begins with the Special Crime Unit coming together with Luther Brinkman who was shot when hunting for an unstable prisoner who escaped. Luther was saved by Callie Davis from the SCU agent who is investigating the potential paranormal talents of that same escaped prisoner. Luther and Callie were in the woods and sense something deeply evil near where they are and they must find out what to do before it destroys them. There are some new characters but Hollis and Reese have been in the series from the start.
Hollis is struggling to control her abilities as a medium when she arrives at the manor of an elderly lady who wants to talk to her deceased husband one more time. Hollis feels there is something else going on within the manor. She feels and than sees many spirits from the past generations of the elderly lady who are still attached to the manor and have not moved on. The plot of the story has lots of twists and turns that keeps the reader curious to read on.
Kay Hooper is a great writer but sometimes if the reader doesn’t keep track of the characters you will be lost from the start. I still loved the story which had a small amount of romance and a lot of paranormal scenes to carry the reader to the end. Hooper’s characters were interesting and this novel features FBI agents, private investigators and agents from a special crime unit who handle the worst most shocking and horrific most mysterious crimes.
The story begins with the Special Crime Unit coming together with Luther Brinkman who was shot when hunting for an unstable prisoner who escaped. Luther was saved by Callie Davis from the SCU agent who is investigating the potential paranormal talents of that same escaped prisoner. Luther and Callie were in the woods and sense something deeply evil near where they are and they must find out what to do before it destroys them. There are some new characters but Hollis and Reese have been in the series from the start.
Hollis is struggling to control her abilities as a medium when she arrives at the manor of an elderly lady who wants to talk to her deceased husband one more time. Hollis feels there is something else going on within the manor. She feels and than sees many spirits from the past generations of the elderly lady who are still attached to the manor and have not moved on. The plot of the story has lots of twists and turns that keeps the reader curious to read on.
June 29, 2018
This book, and the one before it are some of the weaker in the series.
In this one in particular, the plot was slow, and poorly placed. I was more interested in Hollis side story, then the story of the new characters (was that the intention? It felt like it), and her story was still pretty slow going.
The paranormal gets a bit too big in this series for me, conceptually I get the idea that with psychics come psychic crminals, but I much prefer these books when they paranormal are a cool side benefit for investigating, rather then the ONLY way the case would get solved, because oh hey the bad guys is this never dying evil presence.
The Fear triology is the first I haven't read, I'm interested to see if the books keep trying to be bigger than I want them, or if they go back to basics.
In this one in particular, the plot was slow, and poorly placed. I was more interested in Hollis side story, then the story of the new characters (was that the intention? It felt like it), and her story was still pretty slow going.
The paranormal gets a bit too big in this series for me, conceptually I get the idea that with psychics come psychic crminals, but I much prefer these books when they paranormal are a cool side benefit for investigating, rather then the ONLY way the case would get solved, because oh hey the bad guys is this never dying evil presence.
The Fear triology is the first I haven't read, I'm interested to see if the books keep trying to be bigger than I want them, or if they go back to basics.
July 16, 2022
I don't know why I keep trying to read Kay Hooper. This is my 3rd. I don't mind, and frequently like, a bit of paranormal, but this was too too much! Most of the book nattered on about all these different characters and their special paranormal abilities...on and on and on, with very little to add to the story or its' progression! I did a lot of skimming so I could pull out pieces of the actual story. In my mind it was 2 stars, but that isn't fair, as that would just reflect personal preference, but 3 stars instead of 4 because I think she could have made the story flow a lot easier and better!
July 3, 2019
Another of Hooper's books about the psychic FBI agents. Hollis the medium goes to a castle (run as a hotel during the summer) in Tennessee to see work on her spirit-seeing powers when she's not working on a case. Reese, the guy who was undercover with the cult when they first met, goes along. On the other side of the mountain, a tracker has just found his target, a bank robber who got away with $10 million. The bad guy shoots him, and one of the psychic FBI agents finds him and patches him up. And the two plotlines gradually merge. Good read.
November 28, 2023
2.5🌟
Probably the most boring book in this series, and also my lowest rated. There was too much dialogue and not a lot happening, and even if there *is* something happening, there was not enough tension to make it exciting. And the connection between the the two teams mission was really flimsy, imo. Even some of the supporting characters' motivations were just too wishy-washy to justify what they did.
And Bishop... 14 books in and things still haven't blown up in his face after his, sometimes, underhanded, machinations? Man, I would love to see that happen.
Probably the most boring book in this series, and also my lowest rated. There was too much dialogue and not a lot happening, and even if there *is* something happening, there was not enough tension to make it exciting. And the connection between the the two teams mission was really flimsy, imo. Even some of the supporting characters' motivations were just too wishy-washy to justify what they did.
And Bishop... 14 books in and things still haven't blown up in his face after his, sometimes, underhanded, machinations? Man, I would love to see that happen.
June 29, 2022
*WARNING* contains violence
Wow! This story has action and adventure in every page. It kept me turning pages non stop. These characters are awesome. Hollis is still my favorite although she's darn stubborn when it comes to Reese! There is enough world building to know that the Alexander House is not someplace I'd want to visit. The paranormal parts are creepy and imaginative. I would recommend not only this book, but this entire series.
Wow! This story has action and adventure in every page. It kept me turning pages non stop. These characters are awesome. Hollis is still my favorite although she's darn stubborn when it comes to Reese! There is enough world building to know that the Alexander House is not someplace I'd want to visit. The paranormal parts are creepy and imaginative. I would recommend not only this book, but this entire series.
November 28, 2024
Somehow both too much and not enough happening.
I feel like there were some trains that went off their tracks and were forgotten about, but I’m loving the evolution of Hollis. Points deducted for what felt like a copy paste first encounter between Luther and Callie as in the last book when Nathan first sees …Hollis, I think it was actually. And for all the telling rather than showing. Still enjoyed. Now on to rereading Haunted to finish the trilogy.
I feel like there were some trains that went off their tracks and were forgotten about, but I’m loving the evolution of Hollis. Points deducted for what felt like a copy paste first encounter between Luther and Callie as in the last book when Nathan first sees …Hollis, I think it was actually. And for all the telling rather than showing. Still enjoyed. Now on to rereading Haunted to finish the trilogy.
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