Customer Reviews

Sleeping with Fear (Fear Series)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I'm not generally a big fan of the paranormal but this one started off with a great creepy bang, I'll admit!

FBI Agent Riley Crane, a clairvoyant member of Noah Bishop's Special Crimes Unit (SCU) has been asked to look into some possible occult activity on a quiet undercover ex officio basis. When she wakes up in the middle of the day covered in blood, with an intense headache, no recollection of the past three weeks' activity or her ongoing investigation, not to mention a total inability to tap into her normally active psychic senses, she's understandably concerned and completely mystified. The SCU being severely strapped for manpower and tied up in other investigations elsewhere, Noah Bishop has given Crane his trust and a free hand to carefully deal with the ambiguities of her situation, to try to re-crystallize her memories and to press the investigation forward.

As Crane puzzles her way through satanism, black masses, dark magic, human sacrifice, evil energy, continuing memory blackouts and a torrid romantic liaison with someone who she can't even remember meeting let alone making love to, "Sleeping With Fear" is perhaps a little over the top even by Hooper's standards. But, that said, when I gave into the story and allowed myself to totally dispense with any credibility issues, I'll confess I enjoyed the story. For a few easygoing hours, I was transported to a land of horror brain candy that was quite entertaining.

Recommended.

Paul Weiss

In Kay Hooper's latest novel of romantic suspense, "Sleeping with Fear," the heroine is thirty-two year old Riley Crane, an ex-army officer and federal agent assigned to the Special Crimes Unit. She is an expert on the occult as well as a clairvoyant with psychic abilities that come in handy in her line of work. As the novel opens, Riley is vacationing in a beachfront cottage on Opal Island, South Carolina. One afternoon, she wakes up covered in dried blood, with no memory of the last three weeks of her life. In addition, her psychic powers appear to be out of commission. Her boss, Noah Bishop, Chief of the FBI Special Crimes Unit, wants Riley to return to Quantico immediately. However, she convinces Bishop to allow her to stay on the island in order reconstruct her memory and figure out who messed with her mind and why.

The plot thickens when the headless body of a man is found hanging over a tree in what appears to have been a satanic ritual. Sheriff Jake Ballard reluctantly asks Riley for her help in solving the case, although he is furious that she dumped him for Ash Prescott, the local district attorney. Riley confides in her old army buddy, Gordon Skinner, that her mind is playing tricks on her, but she tells no one else about the gaps in her memory. She is even reluctant to be honest with her lover, Ash, especially since she barely remembers how their relationship began. The only certainty in Riley's mind is that someone close to her has targeted her for death. As the weeks pass, Riley senses that she is missing something important, but in spite of her best efforts, she cannot get a handle on the case.

"Sleeping with Fear" is a suspenseful and engrossing page-turner. Riley is a courageous, tough, and tenacious protagonist, and her torrid relationship with Ash heats up the pages. Although the dialogue is a bit stilted and the conclusion somewhat implausible, books of this nature are meant to be escapist entertainment. Judged by this standard, "Sleeping with Fear" delivers the goods, skillfully combining romance, elements of the supernatural, and crime in a neat enough package to keep Hooper's fans coming back for more.

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.

I did like this story - the amnesia angle was written perfectly. I enjoyed how the story played out very much. I was learning things at the same time as Riley and found it to be very interesting. I thought that was fun and refreshing and Hooper did a fantastic job with that aspect.

I think the problem I had was the same as another reviewer. I didn't really like Riley very much. There wasn't enough about her that drew me in and made me like her and care about her and her relationship with Asher.

I also didn't like the fact that Riley lost her powers for such an extended length of time. I like the paranormal aspect of Hooper's novels and that wasn't present for most of the book.

So, 4 stars. I liked the book and would recommend it but didn't love it. Not a 5 star effort.

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!

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!!!

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.

Kay Hooper writes a series featuring different operatives in Noah Bishop's Special Crimes Unit. What sets this unit apart from others is that the operatives all have some form of paranormal powers including Bishop and his wife (who were featured earlier in the series). This story features former army officer, Riley Crane who is blessed with spidy powers. Unfortunately, she wakes up in bed, covered in blood with most of her short-term memory missing along with her paranormal powers. She had been helping on an occult case on tiny Opal Island. The case takes a nasty turn with what seems like an occult related death. Riley warily navigates the waters with a spotty memory and evil stalking her.

I'm not really a believer in the paranormal, but I always enjoy Kay Hooper's books. I think it is partly because the characters are always so likable. Sometimes, the paranormal is used as a device to tidy up details that cannot realistically happen, but since so much of these stories are unbelievable anyhow, it really doesn't detract. SLEEPING WITH FEAR was an engaging light read perfect for a lazy afternoon.

I have to say I agree with most of the other reviews.. Kay Hooper is one of a verrrry few authors I buy in hardback.. I was dissapionted in the book.. Where were the agents with their psychic abilities.. It was hard to follow where Riley was going. The ending seems a bit thrown together.. I mean her and Ash were talking one min and the next she was off in a Hummer..I like what she tried to do with the book but I think she fell short.. It seems to me Kay Hooper was not able to write the amnesia well into the story at all.. I sure hope the next book is better I think I will wait for it in paperback

I enjoyed the writing and characters of this book more than the last few by Ms. Hooper, but I have to say the book seemed to leave a lot of questions unanswered at the end. The book starts with Riley waking in in bed, covered in blood, with no idea how she got there. At the end of the book, it still wasn't clear how she came to be covered in blood, and how she ended up in her own bed. I hate to read a whole book and end up where I started.