5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another Winner by Ali Vali - Murder and Mayhem, December 26, 2008
This review is from: Calling the Dead (Paperback)
Calling The Dead is the latest release by author Ali Vali. This is the beginning of a new series and it's off to a great start. This is a romantic intrigue lesfic book, one that is a departure from Ali's "Devil" series in that the main character is a cop, Sept Savoie who's focus is bringing the "bad guy" to justice. She meets and falls for a woman who we hope will figure strongly in the future books of this series, Keegan Blanchard, a chef and part of a family dynasty in New Orleans.
If memory serves me correctly, Sept Savoie did make a cameo appearance in the last "Devil" book, Deal with the Devil, which serves as a nice segue into this new series. It's clear to me that Casey, from the Devil series would get along great with Sept.
This book is darker than the other books that Ali Vali has written, with some hard-to-read scenes. However, those scenes are important for the story and the connection with the Santeria religion. Santeria is the religion that some people refer to as "voodoo".
I love how Ali Vali brings her love of the city of New Orleans into her books. It's clear that she has a passion for the city when you read her books and get a feel for the culture of New Orleans and the French Quarter.
I recommend this book. If you are like me, hungerly waiting for her next "Devil" book to be released, you'll find that you now have 2 series that you are invested in. This new "Sept Savoie" series figures to be a great one. Enjoy it!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great read, March 8, 2009
This review is from: Calling the Dead (Paperback)
I found this book to be another of Ali Vali's great works. Great characters and a gripping plot that will lead you to an end that you did not expect. WONDERFUL!!!!!!!
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This is a very strong book, January 13, 2009
This review is from: Calling the Dead (Paperback)
How bad would your life have to be for you to find that chasing a serial killer is a welcome distraction? Detective Sept Savoie finds herself in that position. Hurricane Katrina didn't just cause physical damage in New Orleans, but left psychological scars on all of the people who were there. Sept got her unusual name because she was the seventh child in the family, but now there are only six. The flood waters took her beloved sister and her young niece and the family is struggling to recover from the loss. Her brother-in-law is walking a thin edge of sanity and Sept tries to cope with the stresses by devoting herself to the family business, being a top police officer. The first body that turns up outside of a restaurant seems to be a routine murder and the logical suspect is the restaurant owner Keegan Blanchard. The Blanchards are an old New Orleans family represented in the current generations by very feisty, independent women. That guarantees an immediate clash between Sept and Keegan that quickly grows into an attraction as more bodies turn up and it becomes clear that the serial killer who is on the loose isn't Keegan. As the crimes unfold, ritual overtones of voodoo and Santeria begin to emerge and the killer switches from random killing to waging a personal attack on Sept. She begins to worry that her growing relationship with Keegan could be dangerous to the Blanchard family, especially when the evidence indicates the killer might be someone close to her. The authorities expect Sept to rescue the city from this horror, which she tries desperately to do while holding her family together and protecting Keegan from being swept into the madness.
Ali Vali uses New Orleans as a character in Calling the Dead. The unique culture sets the mood of the book in a way that could only occur in this city. As a survivor of Katrina, Vali is able to capture the brooding overtones of the city and evoke the destruction that was created in the people's lives. Some of the most interesting parts of the book are the descriptions of what happened to the people during the flooding and to the city in the aftermath. Vali also takes you into the twisted mind of the killer so that the reader can understand what is motivating him even while sharing the horror of what he is doing.
The nightmare that was Katrina had a residual effect of creating a powerful storytelling voice in Vali. Always an accomplished writer, the books she has set in this environment have been particularly strong and demonstrate her ability to pull a reader into a story. Calling the Dead is one of those books that the reader doesn't want to end and presents characters that would be worth using in another story. This one goes into the "keeper" category.
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