The Spirit Stalker

Rating:
Summary: Native American medicine woman to the rescue!
Review: Romberg has written a seriously scary story set deep in the piney woods of east Texas. In land ravaged by oil exploitation, an ancient evil awakens. Meriam Winchester, Caddo-Comache medicine woman, dares to confront it. Here is a serial killer novel with supernatural overtones that could make Thomas Harris and Stephen King both envious! A great tale of terror, effectively written, not to be missed!

Rating:
Summary: Indian Legend Meets Misogyny
Review: Sunny Hansen has run from her abusive husband and is hiding in East Texas. One of her new friends is Meriam Winchester, an old woman of Caddo and Comanche heritage. But Sunny discovers a dead woman in a sludge pit near her new home. Afraid that reporting the crime will allow her husband to find her, she keeps quiet. But then she sees a figure dump another body and gets her new friends involved.

There appears to be a serial killer targeting women in the area and the stretched-too-thin police force is having a hard time with the case. Add a female cop in charge of "women's" issues, a dissatisfied priest, a injured sports hero, a philandering deputy and a mysterious killer and you would have a good story.

But that is not all. It seems that Meriam believes a ancient evil is driving the killer and that Sunny has been chosen to champion the fight. If only she could remember the legend she was told as a girl.

If the elements of the fantastic were removed, this would still be a very good story. It is possible it was conceived as such and only changed later. Whatever the case, this is a seriously good book and worth the read.