Blood Ties

Blood Ties by Kay Hooper

A series of grisly murders has left a trail of blood across three states, bringing the Special Crimes Unit to a small Tennessee town. There, two more brutal killings lure Noah Bishop and the SCU into what may be the ultimate trap, and lead Special Agent Hollis Templeton into a dangerous attraction—and a serial murder investigation that turns very, very personal. In her time with the SCU, Hollis has shown an uncanny ability to survive even the deadliest attacks. But what she can’t know is that this killer intends to destroy the team from within. As the body count climbs, and Bishop and his agents race to uncover the true identity of their enemy, not even their special senses can warn them just how bloody, and how terrifyingly close, the truth will be.

--Blood Ties by Kay Hooper, Copyright ©2010 by Kay Hooper, published by Bantam Books

My Review

Blood Ties picks up a few months after Blood Sins in the town of Serenade, TN. The Reverend Adam Deacon Samuel may be dead, but his reach goes far beyond the grave. He was a prophet after all, and a madman with a mission. He knew his death was imminent and, like all good madmen, made the appropriate arrangements.

The SCU team, headed by Miranda Bishop, is sent to the town of Serenade to investigate an unusual murder. While there, they stumble across another body, and almost become victims themselves when a sniper starts shooting at them. After researching the two victims, they discover they’re both linked to past SCU cases. The SCU has an enemy, and it seems that enemy is drawing all the agents together in one spot, determined to destroy the unit once and for all.

But who is the enemy? And why is he so determined to bring down the SCU and Noah Bishop in particular? And just how far will he go to achieve his goal?

Pretty short review, especially for the first finished book of the new year, but I can’t say any more without saying a lot more, and if I said a lot more, I might as well tell you the entire story. And where’s the fun in that?

In my review of the previous story, Blood Ties, I mentioned that it was not a stand-alone read, that you needed the previous “Blood” book to understand that one. Well, you need both of those to understand this one. It’s an excellent series with very intricate, delicate connections that must be read to be understood. There are a lot of details and you really do have to pay attention (the previously mentioned flowchart wouldn’t hurt), but in the end, it’s all worth it.

And if you think long and hard about the title of this story, you’ll realize “the truth underneath it all.” I did, and I knew the answer to the biggest secret long before anyone else in the story did, except maybe Bishop himself.

I give this story FOUR STARS.