About the Book:

A town shrouded in the occult. An evil that lurks in the dark. The SCU returns in a hair-raising novel from New York Times bestselling author Kay Hooper.

Nellie Cavendish has very good reasons to seek out her roots, and not only because she has no memory of her mother and hardly knew the father who left her upbringing to paid caregivers. In the eight years since her twenty-first birthday, very odd things have begun to happen. Crows gather near her wherever she goes, electronics short out when she touches them, and when she’s upset, really upset, it storms. At first, she chalked up the unusual happenings to coincidence, but that explanation doesn’t begin to cover the vivid nightmares that torment her. She can no longer pretend to ignore them. She has to find out the truth. And the only starting point she has is a mysterious letter from her father delivered ten years after his death, insisting she go to a town called Salem and risk her life to stop some unnamed evil. Before her thirtieth birthday.

As a longtime member of the FBI’s Special Crimes Unit, Grayson Sheridan has learned not to be surprised by the unusual and the macabre–but Salem is different. Evidence of Satanic activities and the disappearance of three strangers to the town are what brought Salem to the attention of the SCU, and when Gray arrives to find his undercover partner vanished, he knows that whatever’s hiding in the seemingly peaceful little town is deadly. But what actually hides in the shadows and secrets of Salem is unlike anything the agents have ever encountered.

Click on title below for direct Amazon buy link:                                                                          Hidden Salem (Bishop/Special Crimes Unit Book 19)

My Review:

Salem is a lovely small town in North Carolina – it’s self sufficient, self governing, and the residents are happy.  And people are disappearing.  When the FBI receives no cooperation from the county sheriff, Special Crimes Unit Chief, Bishop, decides to send in two undercover operatives.  Noah Bishop has strong psychic abilities, and has recruited agents with varying abilities, as well, to tackle crimes that are out of the ordinary.

Agents Geneva Raynor and Grayson Sheridan have worked together in the past, and have a history which is hinted at as being somewhat unsettling, though it’s never fully explored or explained in this book.  They’re both professional enough to be able to put that aside and investigate the mysterious town and its residents, especially now with time running out and a young girl missing.

Nellie Cavendish is descended from one of the founding families of Salem generations ago.  She was born here, but was taken away by her father at a young age in order to protect her.  Her father has since died, but left her a mysterious letter, telling her that she needs to return to Salem before her thirtieth birthday.  He states that she has a power, the only one capable of stopping the rampant evil there.

HIDDEN SALEM is a fairly quick read, but is full of Kay Hooper’s trademark twists and creepiness.  You never can tell who can be trusted, or what new and unique psychic power may be revealed.  The good vs. evil battle is taken to a new level when supernatural powers are involved.  HIDDEN SALEM is the latest in a series of books involving Noah Bishop and his unusual agents.  The couple introduced here have not appeared in previous books, so this story is easily read as a standalone.  Unlike other books in this series, there is no romance element, which I missed, as that adds another interesting layer to the agents’ psychic connection.  My guess is that this couple will appear again in the future, and will have their past together finally revealed.  This fast paced novel never had a dull moment, as there were elements of murder, cover-ups, telepathic connection to animals, the occult, and even stealing psychic talents from others.  This whirlwind makes for exciting reading, and I’d recommend it for fans of supernatural thrillers.    ~Rose