The Following review was contributed by: John Walsh

Kelly Santos has escaped from her unhappy childhood in an orphanage to become a leading New York fashion photographer. Despite her talent, success and good looks, she remains insecure and unhappy because of her extraordinary psychic abilities – psychic abilities that enable her to see the past and read the feelings of people with whom she comes into contact.

Kelly returns to her hometown of New Orleans to say goodbye to the only person with whom she had established a meaningful relationship, Sister Grace, a nun who helped her deal with her life at the orphanage. However, her personal voyage into the past is drastically overturned by a murder that her psychic abilities enable her to witness and she swiftly becomes embroiled in a thrilling and dangerous adventure – and an equally dangerous romance.

Metsy Hingle has produced an engaging page-turner that slides down as easily as a glass of iced tea. Her characters are nicely balanced and develop to a certain extent through the course of the novel. The main romance between Kelly and the homicide detective Jack Callaghan is paralleled by that between Alex and Meredith, with two people delving into a murky past and coming to terms with the lack of family comfort and security acting as a counterpoint to the murder story which turns on quite different familial motivations. There is scarcely a false note and this book is recommended to lovers of romance.

How might the book have been improved? Well, despite the setting, which is primarily in exotic New Orleans, there is little sense of time or place. The characters drift through the city as if it is a purely interchangeable backdrop for the more important action of their lives. I left the book not knowing much more about New Orleans than when I started. Is it hot there? Do people sweat in a humid climate? What interesting or distinctive food, architecture or entertainment is available? We are not treated to any such details.

It is not necessary to become another Anne Rice to answer some of these questions, just provide more interest in the details of people’s lives. This lack of interest in detail extends itself to Kelly – she is a famous and talented photographer and takes her camera with her everywhere. Yet she has no real interest in a theoretical side to her art or even to professional development. Most people take their work more seriously than this. A final complaint concerns the sex scenes, which are generally nicely done and clearly related to character development – but shouldn’t the characters be practicing safe sex? Disease and unwanted pregnancy are facts of life and adults should deal with them.