Death Channels

Rating:
Summary: I really enjoyed this book!!!
Review: This is the third in Vardeman's Peter Thorne Mystery series (following The Screaming Knife and The Resonance of Blood) and each book in the series just keeps getting better! This book retains the thoroughly enjoyable characters from the first two, but in addition, the mystery itself is complicated and engaging, thus making this book a success on every count for the genre. For those who don't yet know, Peter Thorne is a Houdini-type of character who has magic stage acts, but at the same time assists the local police with murder cases, and debunks the many mediums and psychic shenanigans to be found in the San Francisco area. This character is one of the most fun I've seen in a long time. The skeptical approach he takes to the supernatural has a single exception - the fact that Peter Thorne himself has a single psychic ability that he can use to get information from murder weapons. With that one exception, he doesn't take for granted the existence of any other paranormal events. Until, perhaps, in this book - for he gets involved in some seances with a friend and seems to be presented with convincing evidence of survival after death!! Can this evidence hold up to scrutiny, and thus force him to change his skepticism? The scenario is complex, fascinating in its presentation, and quite surprising in its resolution. Main drawback in the series is that, following in the tradition of the mystery genre, the books sometimes include many lurid details of crime and horror.

Rating:
Summary: I really enjoyed this book!!!
Review: This is the third in Vardeman's Peter Thorne Mystery series (following The Screaming Knife and The Resonance of Blood) and each book in the series just keeps getting better! This book retains the thoroughly enjoyable characters from the first two, but in addition, the mystery itself is complicated and engaging, thus making this book a success on every count for the genre. For those who don't yet know, Peter Thorne is a Houdini-type of character who has magic stage acts, but at the same time assists the local police with murder cases, and debunks the many mediums and psychic shenanigans to be found in the San Francisco area. This character is one of the most fun I've seen in a long time. The skeptical approach he takes to the supernatural has a single exception - the fact that Peter Thorne himself has a single psychic ability that he can use to get information from murder weapons. With that one exception, he doesn't take for granted the existence of any other paranormal events. Until, perhaps, in this book - for he gets involved in some seances with a friend and seems to be presented with convincing evidence of survival after death!! Can this evidence hold up to scrutiny, and thus force him to change his skepticism? The scenario is complex, fascinating in its presentation, and quite surprising in its resolution. Main drawback in the series is that, following in the tradition of the mystery genre, the books sometimes include many lurid details of crime and horror.