Healer

Affinity Series #3

by J.S. Lenore

After solving one of Chicago’s coldest cases, Homicide Detective Kim Phillips is back on the murder beat when she’s assigned a double homicide. The two unidentified victims are found in an abandoned home, surrounded by blood and a dark energy that seems to be invading Chicago.

Meanwhile, Detective Riley Cross’s burgeoning powers continue to confuse and fascinate Kim. Combined with the simmering attraction between the two of them, he’s just another problem she can’t seem to figure out.

Torn between solving the murders or the supernatural mystery, Kim has to use all of her skills — Mundane and Medium — to find the killer and stop the afterlife from invading.

Genres: Fantasy

348 pages, Paperback

Published August 27, 2019

About the author

From an early age, J.S. Lenore has always been passionate about books and storytelling, but it wasn’t until high school that she started writing her own stories. Starting with fan fiction, Lenore found some minor success writing under the handle p1013. Burner, the first book in the Affinity Series, is her first foray into novel-length fiction. Set in Chicago, where Lenore was born and raised, it’s a dark tale about life and death, the ways that people define themselves, and how our histories can impact our futures.

J.S. Lenore now lives in Indianapolis with her husband, two children, two cats, and zero ghosts.

Reviews

[Danielle Zimmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kim and Riley are back and busting ghosts in this interesting third installment of the Affinity series. Unlike the first two novels, this one has a central mystery that isn’t about the whodunnit, why, and how, but more about how the mystery answers some questions and raises other questions. This installment isn’t afraid to take our heroes down a notch. To show that they’re not perfect. That they make mistakes and are completely wrong about some things, and then to show the outcome of those mistakes.

I have a terrible memory when it comes to series especially, potentially because of how quickly I read, but I didn’t have too much trouble putting the pieces from the first two novels back together and following those breadcrumbs. The author does a great job of reminding about previous events and revelations without the usual “here’s what has happened so far” paragraphs in the introductory chapters. In fact, this book picks of moments after the last one left off, which was really helpful, and honestly takes place within the span of a single week or so.

I’d be remiss to neglect mentioning the tension between Kim and Riley, because it’s SO good here. Their chemistry leaps off of the page and continues it’s wonderful slow build. Their conversations and reactions are incredibly realistic yet satisfying. I won’t give anything away here, but I was more than satisfied with what happens between them in this novel.

Healer feels very much like a middle novel of a series (in a good way) in that it does a lot of mythology and mystery heavy lifting. And it’s not even the middle book yet. I look forward to seeing where this series goes next (as well as what the alluded to dropped storylines were)!

Read my full review on Hypable!

[J.S. Lenore · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I didn't like it, you'd have a real problem.

[Karla Renken · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s going to be a long year waiting for the next book in this series to come out! Love the characters and the story line as always. Great read!