She left her past behind. But the dead never let go.
Savanah Miles sees ghosts. Always has. After a childhood discovery that shattered lives and divided a town, she walked away, leaving behind the whispers, the stares, and everything that made her a target.
But when a body turns up in the exact spot she once claimed to see one, the FBI shows up with questions. Questions that drag her back home. Now paired with an all-too-charming agent who believes in things he probably shouldn’t, Savanah finds herself in the middle of an investigation that feels all too personal.
In a place where the dead talk and the living lie, solving the case might mean digging up more than just bones.
For fans of slow-burn romantic suspense, haunting mysteries, and psychic heroines who don’t back down.
This is a spin-off of the Cree Blue psychic series and the Ryley St. James series. While you don’t have to read those series first, I do recommend it. This is a prequel and therefore relatively short.
Our FMC, Savannah, is a psychic that has seen ghosts all her life and helped police catch killers, but was ostracised for it and fled her hometown the minute she graduated. Twenty years prior, at age 10, she had a vision of a murder and saw the murdered man in a barn on her frantic run home, but by the time the police arrived, it was gone. For some reason, even though she’d already helped find and catch a serial killer, and been instrumental in rescuing the sheriff’s kid from the same fate, the cops didn’t believe her.
This was one fairly major plot hole within the first few chapters. All the cops had literally been in the room when she had fingered the serial killer and told them where the bodies were as well as the sheriffs kid, so for them to not believe her, even though it was presumably the same cops, doesn’t make sense. However, there is a major inconsistency with the timeline here too.
The prologue is 20 years earlier, Savannah is maybe 5, when she fingers a serial killer. In a subsequent chapter, you learn her dad died and her mom remarried some years later. In another subsequent chapter, you learn about the next crime and that when she ran home, her stepdad was there and Savannah is 10. Meaning it’s been at least 5 years, and yet, when discussing the crime, they all say or think 20 years ago. Which cannot be accurate and could account for why the police treat her so differently, but then I wouldn’t expect 5 years in a small town to have such a high turnover of officers, even if the sheriff had retired. A continuity edit clearly hasn’t been done because this all happened within 5 chapters, including the prologue.
Time continuity seems to be an issue throughout the book with an entire day seeming to disappear in an hour or two with no explanation and not enough having occurred to explain the amount of time that’s lapsed.
The banter between the two MCs doesn’t really fit because they barely know each other. Not to mention some of the conversations are shown from halfway through and leave a lot to be desired. There’s not enough buildup to explain their ease and friendship to the degree it’s shown so early in the book.
Mason, our MMC, also has issues. For most of the books he regularly comments on his psychic best friend etc. but then asks “Do ghosts really make the lights flicker?” As if he knows nothing. Just more inconsistencies.
Honestly, there are so many inconsistencies in this book, it might be easier to state the things that were right. You have an ME laying out the details of the victims as if neither of our MCs were at both crime scenes. Why reiterate this information?
One chapter there’s no update from the ME because of backlog then the next they’re at the ME’s getting updated. There’s no confirmation of time having passed between the two chapters at all. The ME has completed far too much work in far too short of a timeframe to be believable.
Then there’s the bizarre dinner with Savannahs mom, that is way too personal a conversation to be having in front of a stranger. We aren’t even given any background before the mom randomly starts apologising. For what? No clue. This is where I called it quits.
I love it when a book series crosses into another and this did not disappoint. It can be a tricky endeavor because it requires balance in order to not let one series override the other. Ms. Allenton did a fantastic job of combining Mason from the Cree Blue Psychic Eye series and Savanah from The Lost Souls Society to create this new series.
Savanah is a bartender in Ryley St. James’ bar and can see ghosts. Mason is a special agent with the FBI and through his best friend, Cree Blue, believes that psychics are real and that there are people who can see ghosts. The connection between these two was instant and progressed with each page.
Savanah is recruited by Mason to go back to her hometown because a body was found in a barn that was dug up and placed there. There was also a man hanging there and her name was written on the wall. That put the “C" in creepy and it didn’t stop there. It escalated into something far more sinister and dangerous.
The suspense was riveting, the chemistry between Savanah and Mason was genuine and made this book a quick read and earned a solid five stars.
*I received a free copy of this book and voluntarily left a review.
What a great fast read. My only complaint is it was not longer. I absolutely loved how Mason FINALLY got his HEA and with a character from Lost Souls Society series. This author has such a fantastic way of twisting and meshing and wowing the reader. I love the fluidity and fun in her writing. I also love how she intertwines series and my favorite characters. Occasionally she makes me nuts with her choices. 😅
But she always sucks me in and doesn’t let go. AND I always have a book hangover because I want to stay in the worlds she creates. I love paranormal with my mystery and this author is a master at it.
Better than Cree Blue's Dead Wrong in that this story took a little time to develop (200 pages vs 165), and there was a little character development. Not very deep in either regard, though.
Entirely possible I missed it, but I couldn't find the name of Savanah's hometown, which seems like a strange and glaring omission considering its thematic importance. I'm not even sure which state they were in. Presumably somewhere in the South. Just some generic small town, apparently.
Speaking of the town--the morgue's next to a gift shop?? Stranger things have happened, I'm sure, but that struck me as bizarre. The author could have at least addressed the weirdness of that with a dry remark.
The book's ripe with inconsistencies. These are just a few, not even touching the confusing timeline. The opening line sets Savanah's family up as Christians, but church and religion never show up again, no thematic bearing or internal conflict. The prologue talks about a birthmark on Savanah's ear and mentions her habit of tugging on it, but I don't recall her doing it at all beyond the prologue. In the beginning the killer seems to catch blood in bowls and implies he's going to take it and use it somehow, presumably in an occult ritual, but the bowls are still there when the body's found. Neither the police nor the feds remark on the gathering of or intended use for the victims' blood. Savanah's name is spelled Savannah, Savanah, Vanna, and Vannah. Interestingly, when used in full, it's most often spelled with one N, but the diminutive always has two.
Question: Jacob remarks that Mason's starting to sound more Southern every day. Was Mason not from Mississippi? I don't recall Dead Wrong mentioning that his accent isn't Southern or mentioning he's not from the South. We learn very little about his character. He's an FBI agent, his BFF is Cree Blue, and he has an absent daughter. That's about it. Savanah's more central to the story, so we learn more about her, but personality-wise, she's pretty bland.
Unfortunately, the story is more shoddy police procedural than talking to ghosts. I think Savanah only speaks with ghosts two or three times in the book. She doesn't talk to the murder victim, which is an interesting choice; isn't that the point of having ghost whisperers involved in murder mysteries? I'll give Ryley's series a shot, but so far I've been very disappointed in the ghost elements of Allenton's work.
Shoddy police procedural because 1) Savanah's role in the investigation is never defined. She's not a witness or a victim. (She claimed to have witnessed something many years ago but she isn't a witness to the most recent crime.) She's kind of treated like a consultant, but she's never called one nor officially hired as one. All Mason had to do was question her: he had no need to completely disrupt her life and drag her back to town with him. Actually he probably endangered her by bringing her back--he hand-delivered her to the killer. (Pretty convenient for him that she didn't have any ties, friends wondering about her, cat to feed, fridge to clean out, etc. She also apparently wasn't scheduled to work for several days, because she took off without a thought for covering shifts.)
2) They speak openly about the case in public. Nothing was confidential. They're apparently at liberty to discuss the open investigation at will with anyone who asks.
3) We've got local police and feds apparently working the same case? I didn't notice discussion of jurisdiction or who's in charge. I was confused.
4) Harrison's talking about Savanah joining Mason's team at the end, everyone's aware she and Mason are in love*, yet workplace romance is never discussed or even acknowledged.
5) It just didn't seem like they did much investigating. It seemed like Mason and Savanah mostly talked to people about the past and canoodled while others did the work behind the scenes.
*100% instalove. There was definitely more development to Mason and Savanah's attraction than there was to Mason and Cree's, but it's still instalove, fast and easy.
Random question: Does Richard make a new lid for her box? I'd think the current inscription would be an unwelcome reminder.
Lastly, supernatural characters can be really fun, but their powers need limits. If they can know everything easily, the story falls apart because there's little conflict or struggle. Especially in a mystery--where's the mystery if the psychic knows everything? What's worse is when the author's solution to this problem is to have those overpowered characters simply withhold answers. It's lazy writing--I want easy answers when I need them, but I also need the story to happen, so once in a while I'll just pretend some obscure cosmic power cockblocks the investigation. To me as a reader, it's a slap in the face every time I read an exchange like--"Ghost: Someone's watching you. Character: Who? Ghost: Not for me to say. This is your story." Is it not worse to have the ghosts and psychics appear apathetic than just to limit their knowledge? Bah, so annoying.
Lots of murder suspects, a real who done it mystery
It was great having Mason as a main character again and including Cree. This book covered murders going back to the beginning of the town but focused on the last twenty years. A little girl who saw ghosts and dead bodies that no one believed. She was called a freak and ran out of town. Now she returns twenty years later to help the FBI solve a case that happened and no one believed her about, until now when the body shows up again. Almost everyone is a suspect and unraveling these murders bring about more. The killer(s) are not who you would think.
This book brings suspense, murder, death, family drama, old history and even romance in it. I couldn't put it down and can't wait for the next book.
Savannah Miles discovered as a child that she could see ghosts. This ability ended up in her being ostracized from family, friends and even her home town. Twenty years later, she has made a life for herself in a different town.
One day, FBI Special Agent Mason Spencer shows up. He wants Savannah's help. She has no intention of helping, but the past is going to bring her back to her home town.
This is a supernatural crime mystery that will draw you in from the first page and keep you hooked to the last page. For Savannah, it will bring some redemption and I'm sure she would love to say "I told you so" to her home town when they scoffed at her in the past and thought she was weird, a freak. Open the book, read the pages, enjoy the ride, and love the story.
The book had an enticing description that really caught my attention, but unfortunately, the content didn’t live up to expectations. It’s written in third person, which for me made it harder to connect with the characters and feel any deeper engagement.
Even though the book is short (something I usually appreciate), it felt like there wasn’t enough time to build either suspense or relationships. When the killer was revealed, my reaction was mostly a shrug – it was neither shocking nor impactful. That classic “Wait, it was them?!” moment was completely missing, which was a shame.
In summary: easy to read but rather unremarkable. There’s potential, but for me, this didn’t stand out. A weak 2.5 out of 5 stars.
Dark Shadows by Kate Allenton was a quick and easy read I picked up before Halloween. The writing was simple, and the story moved along fast enough to finish in just a few days. I was hoping the main character would interact with ghosts more often—those are usually my favorite parts of these kinds of stories—but this one focused more on the human characters and a psychic who could see and talk to ghosts without really exploring the spirits themselves.
If you’re looking for a light, straightforward story you can breeze through, this one fits the bill. But if you prefer something deeper with more developed characters and detail, you might want to skip it.
This was a finely crafted story, a story of a unusual child, the cruelty of people, the kindness of other people and the coming together of Special Agent Spencer and Savannah. It’s a story of friendship, betrayal mixed with murder. A slowly developing romance. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and you will too.
Ok, I liked the story, but did anyone edit this book? There were mistakes throughout, and not just with spelling and grammar. The pacing was off, there were holes you could fall through, and it was described as slow burn? Um, no. If there are future books, I hope they are edited before being released.
I am in a bit of a quandary bc I like paranormal romance books, blends of mystery and love. All of this authors books seem like great fits for me but I have trouble really getting in to them. The writing is choppy and doesn’t also flow well. It’s like something is missing
Amazing start to a new series. I just blew through this entire book in one shot and I am so ready for more. Loved the cameo appearances of some of my favorite characters. Can’t wait for the next book!
Could not put this book down. Loved the whole idea of Mason And Savannah working together. There were times I was on the edge of my seat not sure what would happen next. Can’t wait for the next book in this new series.
Kate’s books are always so creative and focused on the paranormal intersections with every day life. And of course the mystery and romance are like icing on the cake
Storyline with lots of twists and turns as a young girl receives vindication from a town that tormented her for her special abilities. I picked it up and never put it down until I finish the entire book.
This book was amazing! The story was fun and thrilling to read. The characters are distinct and vibrant. This was my first book by this author and I was happy to read each page. I have a new author to add to favorites! A fantastic read.
I love her stories and now that she is blending series I’m not sure whether I’m ending or beginning a series. I suppose my biggest problem is the time between books.
Mason & Savannah’s story! If you haven’t read the Cree Blu books, you should. Those books are where we meet Mason. I can’t wait for more of this series!
This was a very interesting story. The characters were get good, I felt I really knew them, their feelings, their personality. I recommend this book. Very good writer.