Book Review: Downpour

By Sandy Amazeen Aug 30, 2011, 0:58 GMT

Harper Blaine is on the mend, but evil never rests-in the latest novel from the national bestselling author of Labyrinth. After being shot in the back and dying-again- Greywalker Harper Blaine\'s only respite from the chaos is her work. But while conducting a pre-trial investigation in the Olympic Peninsula, she sees a ghostly car accident whose victim insists that he was murdered and that the nearby community of ...more

After small town private investigator Harper Blaine died for two minutes, her life was irrevocably changed because that experience gave her the ability to be a Greywalker capable of moving between realms. Unfortunately, Harper has died more then once and the last time it happened, her powers were watered down. Hired to do some pretrial investigative work for a lawyer, Harper finds herself leaving Seattle for the wilds of the Olympic Peninsula. It is there that Harper sees a car crash involving a burning SUV and its ghostly occupant Steven Leung who claims to have been murdered. As Harper begins investigating the crash near the community of Sunset Lakes and nearby Lake Crescent, she stumbles into a tangle of peculiar creatures including undead deer, demons, zombies and something far worse and much more powerful. It will take every bit of her now limited abilities and cunning for Harper to survive this encounter because she is not in a position to keep dying.

This nicely done, dark and fast-paced story moves the Greywalker series in a new, more gothic direction. Taking Harper out of her usual element while confronting some unusual adversaries is a storyline that works in Richardson’s capable hands. However, for fans looking to have the story pick up after the previous book that ended more or less with Harper’s “death” will be disappointed as only the briefest of nods is given to that rather monumental event. Overall, this is another excellent installment to a series that shows no signs of slowing down.