Sleeping with Fear: A Bishop/Special Crimes Unit Novel

I'm actually quite surprised over the negative comments SLEEPING WITH FEAR has garnered. I, for one, love the Bishop/FBI SCU stories, and thought this book was an excellent addition to the series. Riley Crane wakes up in bed at her rental cottage in Opal Island, only to realize she's covered in dried blood and has no memories of the last three weeks. Apparently, she was on the island to investigate supposed black magic/occult activities while claiming she was on vacation--but she has no recollection of that fact. She also doesn't remember that she's become romantically involved with Ash Prescott, Hazard County District Attorney. Bishop and the rest of his agents are spread thinly across the United States working on their own investigations, so Riley is on her own, without a partner or any back-up. As situations turn deadly and a body is found tortured and mutilated in a small woods, Riley knows that she must uncover what has been happening to her the last three weeks, and uncover it quickly. As her mind plays tricks on her, even leading to blackouts where she loses hours of her day (besides the very important memories she's already lost), Riley knows that something evil is happening on Opal Island. It is up to her, and her blind trust in Ash, to figure out what that evil is, and stop it before it ends up killing her. SLEEPING WITH FEAR is an excellent addition to the SCU series, and I, for one, am glad I picked up a copy of the book. I can't wait to see what Ms. Hooper has in store for Bishop and his team next.

Riley Crane (psychic, ex-military, FBI agent in the Special Crimes Unit, expert in the occult) wakes up covered in blood, fully clothed but minus her memory and her clairvoyant/psychic powers. Imagine her surprise when she doesn't even remember taking a lover, Ash ( an unconventionally handsome, charismatic District Attorney)or spurning another suitor (drop dead gorgeous , chief of police and close friend of Ash), or just what she was investigating when a decapitated man is discovered hanging near what seems to be a "ritualistic" crime scene. So in summary, the novel revolves around what Riley has been doing for the last three weeks that she can not remember and her efforts to determine who was killed, why and by whom. She manages to do all of this while still losing gaps of time,facing a boss (Bishop)who wants her back in Quantico if she doesn't recover soon; horrible memories of a serial killer she killed; evaluating her relationship with a lover she doesn't remember (although she says that her body does); loosing calories faster than she can eat them (powerbars to the rescue); questioning a friend who called her to Opal Island (Gordon); while seeking assistance from a cheery but helpful cop; and a group of satanist, all while struggling to get your clairvoyant/psychic powers back. I found this to be an entertaining novel. It only took me two days.

Kay Hooper has a great premise for books - an FBI investigative team (SCU) headed by Noah Bishop, that solves cases with their paranormal gifts. Bishop sends agent Riley Crane to Opal Island SC to investigate some occult occurrences there - One morning she wakes in her bed, covered in dried blood, with no memory of the last 3 weeks. She even finds she has a lover of 3 weeks! And her spidey powers are gone. She sets out to not only find the mysterious occult rites, but to discover why someone messed up her psychic gifts. After a few frustrating reads of Hooper's, I was thrilled how beautifully written Sleeping with Fear is - great character development and great suspense. Hooper's back on track and in fine fine form!!! Great read!!!

It's almost impossible to pass up a new Bishop/Special Crimes Unit novel from Kay Hooper. There have been three trilogies in the series thus far: Shadows, Evil and Fear, the latter of which is now completed with the publication of SLEEPING WITH FEAR. The premise behind the series is that the FBI has a Special Crimes Unit (SCU) headed by an enigmatic chief named Noah Bishop, who has at his disposal a hand-picked group of agents with unique abilities. Bishop matches an agent's ability to a case and dispatches them forthwith; the result is a comfortable general familiarity tying each of the novels, and trilogies, together while making each one different and unique. SLEEPING WITH FEAR easily achieves the success of its predecessors, featuring a talented and attractive agent who is almost immediately at a significant disadvantage. Riley Crane has been sent by Bishop to Opal Island off the Carolina coast to investigate dangerous paranormal activity, the manifestation of which includes a series of ritualistic murders. Riley's clairvoyant abilities would appear to hold her in good stead. Her problem, however, is that these abilities seem to have vanished, along with her memory of the past several weeks --- including how she comes to wake up one morning covered in blood. She appears to be actively involved with the local authorities in the investigation of the murders, and in fact is involved on an intimate level with the local prosecutor. One of Crane's other strengths is her ability to fit flawlessly into any given situation. This she is able to do; it soon becomes clear, however, that the secret behind her memory loss is linked to a case from her past, one that she closed in the most definitive way possible. Somehow, a killer has returned from the dead, and Crane is on his list of victims. Hooper tantalizes the reader from almost the first chapter, dropping occasional clues concerning the etiology of Crane's amnesia while providing intermittent vignettes from the past as both story paths converge toward a climactic conclusion. A great strength of Hooper's work is that the overlying premise of her Bishop mythos permits her to take players on --- and off --- the board at any time, providing an edginess to each storyline that might otherwise not be present. SLEEPING WITH FEAR is an excellent place to jump onto a series that, nine books into its inception, may only be getting warmed up. --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

This is the best book Ms. Hooper has had in the Bishop trilogies in a long time, the first time in several books that the conversations between the psychic agent and her/his love interested don't sound like college lectures on psychic abilites. Good fast pace, and the end is very different from the impression on the flyleaf, so a nice surprise. Glad I didn't wait for the paperback next year!