A Panicked Premonition

Psychic Eye Mystery, Book #15

By Victoria Laurie

ISBN: 9780451473905

Author Website: http://www.victorialaurie.com

 

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Kayt

Synopsis:

The New York Times bestselling Psychic Eye Mystery series continues with P.I. Abby Cooper facing the ultimate locked room murder…

Professional psychic and FBI consultant Abby Cooper has used her inner visions to get her out of many a scrape and solve many a crime but she’s about to face a murder scene that will put all her powers to the test. Abby’s husband Dutch has a side business providing security and building panic rooms for wealthy clients. One morning, one of Dutch’s partners, Dave, goes missing on his way to meet a client. Abby’s intuition tells her something terrible has happened to him.

Then two of Dutch’s clients are found brutally murdered…inside their brand new panic room, and most of the evidence points to Dave as the killer. With the authorities racing to find and arrest him, Abby’s got to use all her intuitive prowess to get to Dave first, discover the real killer, and save her husband’s business. This is one case where Abby is positive there’s far more to this mystery than meets her inner eye.

Review:

A Panicked Premonition is only the second book I have read in the “Psychic Eye Mystery” series. I take it this series must have a huge fan base as this is the 15th book. I enjoyed the one right before this one, A Grave Prediction #14. The protagonist is Abby Cooper, a P.I. who works with the FBI as a consultant alongside her friend Candice. Both of their husbands work for the FBI. I really enjoyed Abby and her use of her psychic abilities to help with case in the other book. Not so much this one since she used it rarely and not for what I thought would be the perfect times. The ladies husbands have a new business that is going well. Dutch(FBI agent and Abby’s husband) and Brice (Candice’s husband and Dutch’s superior at the FBI) have started a business installing panic rooms. Everything is going great until their handyman/builder Dave goes missing. Then things really go bad.

I went into reading the “Psychic Eye Mystery” series thinking they are cozies. Well they are and they are not, more not. If you enjoy the brash language of authors like Evanovich, this will not be a problem. I can read past it. They are a bit harsher than a real cozy. The murder is gruesome, the action is on the page not implied and Abby is not an amateur for sure. That said, I could get past all of that even though cozy is my usual genre’. Author Victoria Laurie is adept at pulling the reader in and keeps things moving. I enjoy her writing style. Her storyline was intriguing, but I was very put off that Abby seemed to barely use her abilities when I felt they were needed most. And no one seemed to say anything. That was just odd to me.  I really wanted to give this one 3 stars because of Abby seeming so off in her investigating. The author’s writing style did, however pull it up to 4 stars.

Dave is an integral part of the team in the panic room business. When he goes missing, everyone has to get involved. Abby has a bad feeling and that makes everyone take notice. Bits and pieces start to turn up in the hunt for their friend. Things really get hairy when Abby and Candice go to the house Dave had been working on and it is a horrific scene. What could possibly have happened for these people to be murdered, no more like butchered. Now it looks like Dave is the suspect and it looks really bad when he cannot be found. What could have happened? Although Abby can see some of the mayhem, she cannot get it all. So the only thing they can all do, investigate and find their friend. The evidence is so bad that even they start to think Dave could be the culprit.

I am not sure why I did not care for A Panicked Premonition as much as the one previous to it, but I think it has to do with Abby’s special ability. I enjoy the author’s writing style, not as a cozy read, but as a mystery straight and simple. I would recommend this one to anyone that enjoys a mystery with a psychic and a great group of main characters. I wish I had known Abby when she was eating all the junk food though, not a fan of all the workout/running/eating right scenes. I am a bit surprised at how different the last book and this one seemed to me. Not sure what is behind that, but I would still recommend this read. The mystery was hard to figure out, I thought I had it then I did not, then I did. That was good. The clues are interesting and the search was intense. There are a lot of really good points to A Panicked Premonition and I think most mystery/psychic fans will enjoy reading it.

*OBS would like to thank the publisher for supplying a free copy of this title in exchange for an honest review as part of their ongoing blog tour*