Title: Wait for Dark
Series: Bishop/Special Crimes Unit, #17
By: Kay Hooper
ISBN: 0425280942 (ISBN13: 9780425280942)
Author’s Website: http://www.kayhooper.com/
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra
Summary: 
In Clarity, North Carolina, the residents have fallen victim to an unfortunate series of events. Seemingly random accidents have taken the lives of several citizens in the small mountain town. But these deadly coincidences are anything but. Something is on the hunt in Clarity, and the only clue as to what is a cryptic note given to the victims 24 hours before they meet their ends: “Wait for dark.”
Sheriff Mal Gordon knows how to handle his town, but he has no idea how to handle this. Hollis Templeton and her team from the Special Crimes Unit, including her partner and lover, telepath Reese DeMarco, are called in to investigate.
But while the SCU has prepared them for the unknown, the incredible evil stalking Clarity shakes the team to their core when one of their own is targeted. Now Hollis, the “cat with nine lives” finds herself facing death again.
And this time, not even her partner can protect her.
Review:
Wait for Dark is a wonderfully crafted story which kept me on the edge of my seat and at times cowering under the covers as I read. In true Kay Hooper fashion, I was engaged in this story right from the prologue. How could the following not engage your interest:?
“As if the car wanted to run over the boy.”
Really…insinuating that the car had a mind of its own? Yup…I was hooked. What is going on in the sleepy little town of Clarity?
The story begins with numerous “accidents” happening in the small town of Clarity, where the fourth “accident” is just weird, not really conceivable as to how it occurred. Conversations between Sheriff Mal Gordon and Deputy Emma Fletcher regarding these incidences:
“Just wondering how long it’s taken you to convince yourself this was an accident.” “All morning,” she confessed.
and
“ …No, I’m not okay. I’m not even close to being okay, not with stuff like this happening. First that weird car crash, then a grill exploding, and the elevator falling the way it did….and now this. Four people dead since the middle of July, all from accidents that shouldn’t have happened. That’s not normal, not for Clarity. I looked it up. The last accidental death here was from a farmer falling off the roof of his bar. Nearly fifteen years ago.”
So Sheriff Gordon calls in the Special Crimes Unit (SCU) to give him an assist. The weird stuff does not stop just because the SCU is in town. In fact, it seems like now one of the special agents (Hollis) is also a target. As the team tries to stop the next murder, they review all four previous crime scenes for commonalities. And then the unthinkable, a fifth murder. But this murder does not follow the same patterns? This really gets the SCU thinking. One clue that was common to all five victim’s is that each murder victim got a text just hours before their demise…and it said “Wait for Dark”. Kirby (SCU member) certainly got it right…she said “Now that’s creepy.”
As Hollis vows to stop the killer in an attempt to fight for her life, she develops new psychic talents to help fight this monster. Hollis takes her job VERY seriously and the first evening in town, she is pushing herself. In talking with her partner, Reese, we get a sense of her dedication, even to the extent of pushing herself too far:
“We both know you’re not going to sleep. You’ll lie awake in bed going over and over this case in your mind. Trying to figure out if you missed something.”
“It’s my job, Reese. To keep this monster from killing anyone else.”
“That isn’t your job. Your job is to investigate, build a profile, and narrow down what’s now a wide-open list of suspects. To hunt the monster. Our job is to do that. And if he kills again while we’re closing in on him, that’s on him. Not us.”
With the body count increasing, time is not with the team. I found the suspense very palpable. Frequently I was shaking with anticipation. The crime scenes were gruesome and at times so detailed that I shivered. Not sure this is the book one should read just before bed.
I do hope that Hollis and Reese can work out the status of their relationship in the next book as it really just needs to be settled. I would also like to see the progression of the partnership between Kirby and Cullen, after all Kirby is Cullen’s fourth partner in a mere 8 months. I also enjoyed the personal touch that Bishop bestowed upon the team in this case.
Not wanting to give away any more….pick up Wait for Dark and enjoy. As I have said before – Ms. Hooper never fails to deliver; at least from the limited exposure I have had (now three books from the Bishop/Special Crimes Unit series and two books from the Bishop Files series). I will continue my quest of reading all the back titles in the two series, at least until a new title is published. ☺
