Blood Ties: A Bishop/Special Crimes Unit Novel Review

"Blood Ties," by Kay Hooper, is set in the small town of Serenade, Tennessee, where a runner stumbles over the body of a man who has been tortured and murdered.The local sheriff, Des Duncan, who is not equipped to deal with such matters, calls in the FBI.The agents who show up are members of the highly trained Special Crimes Unit, all of whom have one or more psychic abilities.When more dead bodies turn up, the SCU suspects that a serial killer is on the loose.

In the absence of Noah Bishop, who is the chief of the SCU, Special Agent Miranda Bishop heads up the team.Quentin Hayes, Hollis Templeton, Diana Brisco, and Reese DeMarco also figure prominently in the case.As the days wear on, a highly skilled sniper starts taking potshots at members of the SCU as well as at noncombatants.In spite of their impressive intellect, training, and manpower, Miranda and her colleagues begin to feel like sitting ducks.Furthermore, they have no idea who the mastermind is behind all the carnage.Fortunately, Diana's psychic abilities provide a valuable clue; she learns that past events are connected to the crimes that they are now investigating.

Hooper has concocted a complicated plot featuring a diabolical conspiracy that will test the courage and stamina of the SCU.Diana is particularly vulnerable, since she has the ability to walk with spirits in "an eerie corridor between life and death."The danger is that someday, she may not be able to reemerge from this netherworld.Hollis Templeton, an agent in training, is also at risk, since her psychic abilities have evolved so rapidly that she sometimes overreaches.There is also a subplot about the ever deepening relationships between Quentin and Diana and Reese and Hollis.Most of the novel, however, is bogged down by repetitious scenes in which various individuals offer theories, track down leads, and dodge bullets.Although the author audaciously kills off some innocent characters, she throws in the obligatory surprise ending, in which a nefarious plan is revealed.

If you are new to the Bishop/Special Crimes Unit series, you might want to read the earlier installments first.Jumping in now may be a bit bewildering.You would also do well to refer to the author's helpful mini-biographies of her characters and her glossary of psychic terms (located at the back of the book).Since "Blood Ties" has dozens of characters and alludes to earlier novels in the series, readers will need all the help they can get to keep them focused.Those who have no patience with auras, the spirit world, clairvoyants, seers, and telepaths may want to skip this one.Even if you find psychic phenomena intriguing, especially when coupled with violence and a touch of romance, "Blood Ties" is a bit too rambling and melodramatic to earn more than a marginal recommendation.

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