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After Caroline
The highly acclaimed author of Amanda mesmerizes readers with a haunting, suspense-filled new tale. After a near-fatal accident, Joanna Flynn is plagued by strange dreams. When she is repeatedly mistaken for someone named "Caroline", Joanna travels to Oregon to try and unravel her connection to this mysterious woman and unearth the secrets of her life.
368 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1996
76 people are currently reading
947 people want to read
About the author
Kay Hooper
97 books2,451 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 81 reviews
December 14, 2015
This was the first book that I read by Kay Hooper, and considering it was finished within 24 hours of me having started it, I guess I enjoyed it. :) However, that being said, I did have some problems with it -- for example, the dreams that Joanna had that were of Caroline, that turned out to be true... that was never resolved.
I did like the romance between Griff and Joanna, but I saw it coming from miles away.
The actual mystery part was rather anticlimactic compared to the rest of the story. I gotta admit, I was hoping for some more supernatural type stuff rather than . And I also didn't like how I ended up really disliking Caroline at the end, too...
I'm not sure I'd recommend this to anyone as a book to read for the sake of the book, but it is one of those books that definitely helps time pass quickly.
I did like the romance between Griff and Joanna, but I saw it coming from miles away.
The actual mystery part was rather anticlimactic compared to the rest of the story. I gotta admit, I was hoping for some more supernatural type stuff rather than . And I also didn't like how I ended up really disliking Caroline at the end, too...
I'm not sure I'd recommend this to anyone as a book to read for the sake of the book, but it is one of those books that definitely helps time pass quickly.
September 19, 2019
As always Kay Hooper knows how to capture a reader and keep them in suspense until the last page.
January 22, 2011
Listened to audio book as I drove back and forth to school, which made it bearable. Probably not a listen for a long drive! The premise of the story is good - woman in auto accident, dies, is revived on the scene. Electric line falls across her vehicle and she is electrocuted, and revived. Lead up tot eh story was actually pretty good also. She connected with the soul of a woman who was murdered and set out to find out who the woman was and why she was murdered. This probably would've been a fine story to read, as then I would've skimmed through the "unnecessary" parts.
August 27, 2018
I loved this book and add to the fact that Kay Hooper is one hell of a writer almost deserves a five star review. Written in 1996 it brought back memories of books by Phyllis Whitney and Victoria Holt, I read as a young woman. Compelling characters along with some tension, passion and mystery all the makings for a great read. Enjoy.
October 14, 2017
Two women who look enough alike to be twins are involved in car wrecks at the same instant. one survives, the other doesn't. But the survivor is compelled by dreams to travel across country to search for the truth of the others life and death.
June 4, 2021
I really wish more sites allowed for ½ star ratings because After Caroline is a 2.5 star book. I like the story and loved the characters of Joanna and Griffin but there were some things that just kept it from being 3 stars but it wasn’t really 2 stars either.
The author did a fabulous job of setting the story and the physical environment of Cliffside, Oregon. The mystery grabbed me as soon as realized where the story was headed. The book is a little dated but it didn’t take away any enjoyment for me. I like the characters and for once liked some of the side stories and relationships because it added to the mystique of Caroline.
The worse thing for me was the villain is so freaking obvious. The other issue is one I have a problem with across many books. I don’t like having read/listen to the main characters have endless amounts of internal catalog – it just drags a book down for me. This one had it from both Joanna and Griffin and it just was never ending. The villain could have killed everybody by the time their inner monologues were done.
The narrator was good and I liked it a lot.
The author did a fabulous job of setting the story and the physical environment of Cliffside, Oregon. The mystery grabbed me as soon as realized where the story was headed. The book is a little dated but it didn’t take away any enjoyment for me. I like the characters and for once liked some of the side stories and relationships because it added to the mystique of Caroline.
The worse thing for me was the villain is so freaking obvious. The other issue is one I have a problem with across many books. I don’t like having read/listen to the main characters have endless amounts of internal catalog – it just drags a book down for me. This one had it from both Joanna and Griffin and it just was never ending. The villain could have killed everybody by the time their inner monologues were done.
The narrator was good and I liked it a lot.
March 29, 2019
Joanna Flynn from Atlanta almost die twice in a matter of minutes on a slick
Oil patch highway. The doctors said not only that she was lucky to be alive, and that she would also have suffer no lasting effects, but little did they know how wrong they would be. For that night the dream began...
"It was only of a house perched high above the sea, of a ticking clock and the lingering scent of roses." It drove Joanna crazy by waking Joanna with a sense of panic and of time running out . The terror she lingered throughout her days, urging her to do something-- but what?
Then out of nowhere two strangers on the street called her Caroline. That and with the stranger dreams leads Joanna to do research on that leads her to a little coastal town where on the same day a woman who is her excat double except hair color and voice name Caroline was in a car accident and die the same day as her car accident. So she goes to find out what really happened and what lead up to her accident.
Oil patch highway. The doctors said not only that she was lucky to be alive, and that she would also have suffer no lasting effects, but little did they know how wrong they would be. For that night the dream began...
"It was only of a house perched high above the sea, of a ticking clock and the lingering scent of roses." It drove Joanna crazy by waking Joanna with a sense of panic and of time running out . The terror she lingered throughout her days, urging her to do something-- but what?
Then out of nowhere two strangers on the street called her Caroline. That and with the stranger dreams leads Joanna to do research on that leads her to a little coastal town where on the same day a woman who is her excat double except hair color and voice name Caroline was in a car accident and die the same day as her car accident. So she goes to find out what really happened and what lead up to her accident.
September 25, 2024
After Caroline tells of a woman named Joanna, who not only survived two incidents she shouldn’t have but has now been haunted by the memories and warning dreams of another woman who died on the day she survived states away, Caroline. Joanna decides to travel to Caroline’s town to get much needed answers, but she finds far more than she signed up for.
A thriller mixed with a romance mixed with mystery, this novel hit hard! I love this story and the concept that death can connect people even so far away, as well as the inclusion of the “doppelgänger” concept that is so heavily debated. I also loved the tenderness of the slow burn romance Joanna experiences and how everything clicked into place so beautifully for every character involved by the end of the book. What a read.
A thriller mixed with a romance mixed with mystery, this novel hit hard! I love this story and the concept that death can connect people even so far away, as well as the inclusion of the “doppelgänger” concept that is so heavily debated. I also loved the tenderness of the slow burn romance Joanna experiences and how everything clicked into place so beautifully for every character involved by the end of the book. What a read.
November 29, 2019
All the characters including the secondary ones were complex and had a distinct personality and the plot had so many twists and allowed the reader to speculate and enjoy the surprises. The paranormal/mystical element wasn't overblown to an extent it overshadowed the mystery. The arbitrary time 'Tick'ing that the h keeps alluding to which should have speeded up the pace instead slowed it down as it jarred me.
Read
May 28, 2020Quick, entertaining read!
Thought the premise of the book was a great idea: Two women, Caroline and Joanne, are connected through an accident. Each woman is in an accidnet at the exact same time but in different parts of the country and then they are connected until the survivor, Joanne, helps save the deceased Caroline's daughter!
Like the character of the sheriff and the relationship development between Joanne and the sheriff!
Thought the premise of the book was a great idea: Two women, Caroline and Joanne, are connected through an accident. Each woman is in an accidnet at the exact same time but in different parts of the country and then they are connected until the survivor, Joanne, helps save the deceased Caroline's daughter!
Like the character of the sheriff and the relationship development between Joanne and the sheriff!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 5, 2017
Sexy moody with mist whirling everywhere. Lots of rocky cliffs and sinister dream images. Published in 2005 it is current for that time period. Hard to believe one strange woman (a look alike to one of the town's leading ladies) could gather this much information but it was a plot device needed to move the story along. I was given this book by a friend who liked it and I enjoyed it as well.
November 6, 2020
Not one my favorites. I love Kay Hooper's Bishop files, psychic agents. I'm not a romance buff and this had way too much silliness for me. I'm not a love at first sight, even if you have no clue, type of person. The characters were good and the mystery part was well done but I didn't need or enjoy the "love" parts. I'll stick to the other series.
July 11, 2018
An enjoyable if be it slow paced mystery novel. A case of mistaken identity goes haywire when someone is murdered. This is not one of Hooper's FBI novels, but it could be the closest thing she has written to that series.
June 30, 2023
A good, solid mystery; Joanna has more than just a slight resemblance to the woman who died some three thousand miles away, and her dreams steer her to find out all she can about the deceased Caroline. She tries to find out if Caroline was actually murdered.
January 24, 2017
This was really boring, and the murder mystery turned out to be really anticlimactic, for me. Everything about this book was mediocre.
May 11, 2017
Intriguing mystery.
Writing oversimplified.
Writing oversimplified.
August 22, 2017
Just an okay mystery. Love affair was highly improbable and not believable.
January 29, 2018
Audio. I loved the story line of this book BUT the author threw in a lot of cheesy sex that did not add to the story.
April 27, 2018
Loved this story. Could not put the book down!
May 1, 2018
To me an okay story. Grabbed me at the beginning but then I put it down. Finally finished it and was somewhat surprised for the whodunit.
February 4, 2019
Eav s you hagi ng one he sapponte ohe
wise s good reaI enjoyed his hook it is your your usual tast pace hooperbookth is neon g do
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wise s good reaI enjoyed his hook it is your your usual tast pace hooperbookth is neon g do
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October 4, 2019
a contemporary gothic with a doppelganger theme and elements of du Maurier's Rebecca
June 19, 2021
This was pretty good book. the mystery held up. It was easy reading to, it flowed easily.
November 23, 2021
Great story
May Hooper is a truly outstanding author. She grabs you in the first page and doesn't let go until the lAst page
May Hooper is a truly outstanding author. She grabs you in the first page and doesn't let go until the lAst page
June 21, 2022
Overall I found this book to be a good and fun read, although it can feel as if some portions go on for too long.
August 27, 2022
I’m a huge fan of the bishop series so I am venturing out to her other books!
May 7, 2023
Cool mystery
Joanna has a near death experience and suddenly begins having a recurring dream. She knows she needs to find the town where something is driving her.
Joanna has a near death experience and suddenly begins having a recurring dream. She knows she needs to find the town where something is driving her.
January 21, 2024
This book was okay but I enjoyed Kay Hooper's other books more.
March 16, 2024
Another nostalgic read, not bad stands the test of time not too dated at all…
Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews