Rating: 
Summary: A Gripping Page Turner Not To Be Missed!
Review: ANGEL FIRE is a scary, suspenseful mystery that keeps you guessing --page after page. A wonderfully entertaining read, which I could not put down! The author quickly pulls you into the story and keeps you there with her well- researched attention to detail, vivid descriptions and naturally flowing prose. It was more like watching a movie in my mind, than reading words on a page. Lisa Miscione made the story come alive, which for me seperates a good writer from a great one. Welcome to my bookshelf, Lisa Miscione. I look forward to the next one!!
Rating: 
Summary: Engaging paranormal police procedural
Review: As a teenager, Lydia Strong learned how to live up to her surname following the murder of her mother by a serial killer. The homicide shaped her personal and professional lives. She molded herself into a non-caring person so that she would never hurt again. Professionally she became a successful true crime writer who depends on her intuition to learn the truth.
Fifteen years later, Lydia is in Santa Fe where three people with no real ties to anyone recently vanished. She and the cops disagree as her instincts scream sly serial killer while Police Chief Simon Morrow insists just a trio of losers escaping from their mundane lonely lives. Lydia persuades private eye Jeffrey Mark to help her prove she is right. Jeffrey would do anything for Lydia, who he unrequitedly has loved since he met her when he was a FBI agent investigating her mother's murder. Soon corpses appear and Simon reluctantly begins to believe in Lydia's intuition that dangerously takes the trio to the Church of the Holy Name for a final confrontation with evil.
ANGEL FIRE is a police procedural tale with an ESP-like private investigative twist to the plot. The lead trio makes an interesting team as a strange yet engaging relational triangle forms. The story line is gory and all over the place losing at times sight of the prime theme, but those readers who enjoy a bloodstained tale with likable protagonists will find Lisa Miscione's debut novel to be heaven sent. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Engaging paranormal police procedural
Review: As a teenager, Lydia Strong learned how to live up to her surname following the murder of her mother by a serial killer. The homicide shaped her personal and professional lives. She molded herself into a non-caring person so that she would never hurt again. Professionally she became a successful true crime writer who depends on her intuition to learn the truth.
Fifteen years later, Lydia is in Santa Fe where three people with no real ties to anyone recently vanished. She and the cops disagree as her instincts scream sly serial killer while Police Chief Simon Morrow insists just a trio of losers escaping from their mundane lonely lives. Lydia persuades private eye Jeffrey Mark to help her prove she is right. Jeffrey would do anything for Lydia, who he unrequitedly has loved since he met her when he was a FBI agent investigating her mother's murder. Soon corpses appear and Simon reluctantly begins to believe in Lydia's intuition that dangerously takes the trio to the Church of the Holy Name for a final confrontation with evil.
ANGEL FIRE is a police procedural tale with an ESP-like private investigative twist to the plot. The lead trio makes an interesting team as a strange yet engaging relational triangle forms. The story line is gory and all over the place losing at times sight of the prime theme, but those readers who enjoy a bloodstained tale with likable protagonists will find Lisa Miscione's debut novel to be heaven sent. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Terrific story and characters
Review: I hope this is the first in a long series about Lydia Strong and Jeffrey Mark. Lisa Miscione has created two characters that you can care about. Their lives and issues are so well developed that you seem to know them, their fears and their motivations. Her writing is both crisp and haunting. The story takes us to Angel Fire New Mexico, a small town suddenly beset by a high number of missing persons, possibly a serial killer's doing. The problem is that the bodies are not found and the missing persons could have just fled. Lydia, in town to rest after the publication of her most recent true crime book, is certain that something sinister is afoot and she calls upon her friend and partner, ex FBI agent Jeffrey Mark, to help convince the authorities. The reader is fortunate to be along for every carefully plotted step of this fascinating investigation. I could not put this book down. I can't wait for the sequel, 'The Darkness Gathers', and then for even more new episodes.
Rating:
Summary: Great new author, riveting new book
Review: Lisa Miscione's debut novel, Angel Fire, is a real thrill ride. Great character development and compelling relationships between the main characters add depth and intrigue to the already strong story line. I look forward to her next book.
Rating:
Summary: a very good first novel worthy of widespread acclaim
Review: Lydia Strong has a gift of acutely accurate intuition. She can find clues that elude others. She helped determine the killer of her mother fifteen years ago and, now, as a thirty year old woman, she is a bestselling author of true crime books and a consultant for law enforcement. Young women are disappearing in the Santa Fe area. Lisa suspects something is very wrong and calls her friend, PI Jeffrey Mark, ex FBI agent, into town for his help. The two investigate the deaths and soon realize a serial killer may be at work. Things heat up when the killer targets Lydia as his next victim.
Lisa Miscione has written a very good first novel worthy of widespread acclaim. She has the ability to write with great beauty in describing the landscape and setting of this character rich debut. There is enough of a feeling of underlying dread to keep the reader's interest at all times and the relatively rapid pacing also contributed to the pages flying. Overall a well recommended debut.
Rating:
Summary: Can't wait for the next in the series!
Review: Mysteries can be be strong on plot, character or setting -- a few on two or more. This first mystery, by a talented young writer, creates a chilling atmosphere in the Santa Fe area. Her pacing is flawless: each chapter kept me turning to the next. And we care about the heroine, even though I, for one, couldn't understand her.
Resting between best-sellers in her Santa Fe home, Lydia Strong reads about three people who have mysteriously disappeared. The only connection seems to be their absence of ties to others. Lydia becomes fascinated by these disappearances, just as she has been fascinated by a nearby church that she passes as she runs every day. Lydia's mother was extremely religious and the church seems to be calling Lydia. In particular, Lydia dreams about the blind man who plays a guitar there.
Lydia asks her friend Jeffrey Mark, an ex-FBI man turned private detective, to come to New Mexico and work on the case with her. Their relationship is complex and puzzling. For years they have wanted to be together. Lydia represses her desires, we are supposed to believe, by picking up one-night stands in a bar.
Together they put clues together and, not surprisingly, the killer turns out to have connections to the little church. The killer is detected by tracking down a vehicle identification number (that's not giving away the plot -- as soon as they realize they've got a VIN, they're home free), not by clever deduction of motive. If you're looking for a whodunit with clues and a satisfying ending, this isn't the book for you.
I expect the lead character, Lydia Strong, to grow over time, as Sharon McCone has done. Lydia is complex and not always plausible. Failing to recover from her mother's death, she goes through what Jeff calls a series of "psychiatric hit and run" encounters with therapists. She's supposed to be sensitive to her environment -- not quite psychic, just preternaturally aware -- but we don't see her use these gifts often.
Lydia takes herself very seriously (her mother, she says, was also "a serious woman," but she doesn't see the irony). There is no humorous relief;
Lydia has a dark mind and this is a dark book. Hopefully, the author will lighten her writing, tighten her prose and give more insight into Lydia in the next volume
Rating:
Summary: Can't wait for the next in the series!
Review: Mysteries can be be strong on plot, character or setting -- a few on two or more. This first mystery, by a talented young writer, creates a chilling atmosphere in the Santa Fe area. Her pacing is flawless: each chapter kept me turning to the next. And we care about the heroine, even though I, for one, couldn't understand her.
Resting between best-sellers in her Santa Fe home, Lydia Strong reads about three people who have mysteriously disappeared. The only connection seems to be their absence of ties to others. Lydia becomes fascinated by these disappearances, just as she has been fascinated by a nearby church that she passes as she runs every day. Lydia's mother was extremely religious and the church seems to be calling Lydia. In particular, Lydia dreams about the blind man who plays a guitar there.
Lydia asks her friend Jeffrey Mark, an ex-FBI man turned private detective, to come to New Mexico and work on the case with her. Their relationship is complex and puzzling. For years they have wanted to be together. Lydia represses her desires, we are supposed to believe, by picking up one-night stands in a bar.
Together they put clues together and, not surprisingly, the killer turns out to have connections to the little church. The killer is detected by tracking down a vehicle identification number (that's not giving away the plot -- as soon as they realize they've got a VIN, they're home free), not by clever deduction of motive. If you're looking for a whodunit with clues and a satisfying ending, this isn't the book for you.
I expect the lead character, Lydia Strong, to grow over time, as Sharon McCone has done. Lydia is complex and not always plausible. Failing to recover from her mother's death, she goes through what Jeff calls a series of "psychiatric hit and run" encounters with therapists. She's supposed to be sensitive to her environment -- not quite psychic, just preternaturally aware -- but we don't see her use these gifts often.
Lydia takes herself very seriously (her mother, she says, was also "a serious woman," but she doesn't see the irony). There is no humorous relief;
Lydia has a dark mind and this is a dark book. Hopefully, the author will lighten her writing, tighten her prose and give more insight into Lydia in the next volume
Rating:
Summary: Move over, Sue Grafton!
Review: Step aside, Patricia Cornwell! There's a new kid in town, and her name is Lisa Miscione. She's created an engaging and believable protagonist -- crime writer Lydia Strong -- and she's involved her in an exciting, and unusual, story. Personally, I was carried along the whole way -- even though there were times when the story took some very harrowing turns -- and I'm already looking forward to the next adventure. (The press stuff says the author is working on a second novel now.) I'll be more than willing to go along for the ride again!
Rating:
Summary: Move over, Sue Grafton!
Review: Step aside, Patricia Cornwell! There's a new kid in town, and her name is Lisa Miscione. She's created an engaging and believable protagonist -- crime writer Lydia Strong -- and she's involved her in an exciting, and unusual, story. Personally, I was carried along the whole way -- even though there were times when the story took some very harrowing turns -- and I'm already looking forward to the next adventure. (The press stuff says the author is working on a second novel now.) I'll be more than willing to go along for the ride again!
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