Travel At Your Own Risk…Spectre by Phaedra Weldon, Copyright © 2008 by Phaedra Weldon, published by Ace Books
Zoë Martinique hasn’t been your ordinary still-single-but-looking twenty-something girl ever since she learned she has the extraordinary ability to travel outside her body at will. As if that wasn’t weird enough, she gained additional powers that not only freak her out but have done damage to her budding relationship with Atlanta homicide detective Daniel Frasier.
Zoë and Daniel are thrown back together when she’s drawn into the investigation of a series of bizarre murders (the sort where body parts are missing). She hopes to help Daniel stop the killer—one she’s sure is from the darkest levels of the astral plane—without letting him find out about her special abilities.
Then danger strikes close to home when Zoë’s mom disappears—and Zoë must use all the powers at her command to save her, even though she knows doing so might permanently ruin her love life and turn her into something no longer entirely human…
My Review
I was prepared to stop reading this series after this book if Zoë didn’t reveal the truth to Daniel about what she was. I really hate it when vital information is kept from a character “for their own good.” It never works. It’s one of the reasons I liked, and then fell out of like, for Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series (though I will read the fifth and—thank goodness—final book when it comes out). Nobody tells her heroine, Mack, anything, and so she stumbles about, discovering things for herself and getting into heaps of trouble. She wouldn’t get into trouble if Barrons and V’lane would just tell her what she needs to know…but then, if they didn’t it wouldn’t be a five-book series.
The also story suffers from “too-much-itis,” where too many things are happening to properly keep track of what’s going on. I can just imagine the massive flow charts in Ms. Weldon’s home office, diagramming Zoë’s various abilities and how her abilities grow in each story and exactly what’s happening in each story line and how it’ll affect the next. Not to mention the character charts. Whew!
Okay, I’m off my high horse. Back to Spectre…
Spectre picks up where Wraith leaves off and continues Zoë’s adventures as she learns about her powers and just what she can do with them. She’s been contacted again by Maharba to spy on a meeting between Senator March Knowles and an Atlanta businessman named Francisco Rodriguez. This time, however, they not only want information, they want proof that she was really there. “Bring us a souvenir,” she’s told and, reluctantly, she heads off to do their bidding. She listens in on the meeting and attempts to retrieve what they want, but she’s interrupted because, well, someone’s trying to kill her. Again.
The mysterious Joe from Wraith returns and this time we get to find out more about him. He’s a cop, working undercover, and his investigation weaves in and out of Zoë’s misadventures, adding to her already complicated life.
Daniel’s still there, still being supportive and caring, and even admitting to Zoë that he loves her—awww—and she admits the same back—awww—but she still hasn’t told him what she can do—arrrrgh! I was all set to put this series away for good after this book, but Ms. Weldon saved a reader at the very, very end. Daniel is clued in to the fact that all is not as it seems in Ms. Zoë’s world when he sees her talking to a ghost.
For those who came in late, in Wraith, Zoë had her voice stolen by another astral entity. That's why Daniel can't hear her because she can't speak. I know why Daniel can now hear her—I won’t give that secret away—but that’s not why I’ll continue on to Book 3. I’ll continue to read the series because now Zoë can’t hide the truth from Daniel any longer. Finally, the poor man can come out of the dark-—I hope.
The also story suffers from “too-much-itis,” where too many things are happening to properly keep track of what’s going on. I can just imagine the massive flow charts in Ms. Weldon’s home office, diagramming Zoë’s various abilities and how her abilities grow in each story and exactly what’s happening in each story line and how it’ll affect the next. Not to mention the character charts. Whew!
Okay, I’m off my high horse. Back to Spectre…
Spectre picks up where Wraith leaves off and continues Zoë’s adventures as she learns about her powers and just what she can do with them. She’s been contacted again by Maharba to spy on a meeting between Senator March Knowles and an Atlanta businessman named Francisco Rodriguez. This time, however, they not only want information, they want proof that she was really there. “Bring us a souvenir,” she’s told and, reluctantly, she heads off to do their bidding. She listens in on the meeting and attempts to retrieve what they want, but she’s interrupted because, well, someone’s trying to kill her. Again.
The mysterious Joe from Wraith returns and this time we get to find out more about him. He’s a cop, working undercover, and his investigation weaves in and out of Zoë’s misadventures, adding to her already complicated life.
Daniel’s still there, still being supportive and caring, and even admitting to Zoë that he loves her—awww—and she admits the same back—awww—but she still hasn’t told him what she can do—arrrrgh! I was all set to put this series away for good after this book, but Ms. Weldon saved a reader at the very, very end. Daniel is clued in to the fact that all is not as it seems in Ms. Zoë’s world when he sees her talking to a ghost.
Daniel stood in the door—his eyes wide. He had his gun out, lowered, his feet spread wide apart. He was pale.
And he was perfectly quiet. Until—
"I heard you. Just now. Talking. You were talking to Holmes, Zoë. I saw Holmes standing beside you. You can’t talk. You told me you couldn’t talk!”
Mental note: what the—
For those who came in late, in Wraith, Zoë had her voice stolen by another astral entity. That's why Daniel can't hear her because she can't speak. I know why Daniel can now hear her—I won’t give that secret away—but that’s not why I’ll continue on to Book 3. I’ll continue to read the series because now Zoë can’t hide the truth from Daniel any longer. Finally, the poor man can come out of the dark-—I hope.
I give this story THREE STARS.
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