Spectre (Zoe Martinique, Book 2) [Paperback]

Phaedra Weldon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 2008

Next in the series that’s “part paranormal whodunit, part urban fantasy” (Publishers Weekly) by the author of Wraith.

Zoë Martinique has the extraordinary ability to travel outside her body at will. When she is drawn into an investigation of a series of bizarre murders, in which the victims are missing body parts, Zoë hopes to help her boyfriend, Atlanta homicide detective Daniel Frasier, stop the killer— one she’s sure is from the darkest levels of the astral plane—without letting him find out about her special abilities.

Then danger strikes close to home when Zoë’s mother disappears, and Zoë must use all the powers at her command to save her—even though Zoë knows that, in doing so, she may make herself into something no longer entirely human.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The second novel in the Zoe Martinique series, following Wraith (2007), finds Zoe, an astral walker who can leave her body at will, dealing with the loss of her voice after a battle in which she and handsome detective Daniel Frasier almost lost their lives. She and Daniel have finally gotten together, but their romantic bliss is put on hold when Zoe gets an e-mail from Maharba, the mysterious employer who sent her on her last dangerous mission, demanding she attend a political fund raiser and spy on a meeting between the candidate and a businessman. With little choice in the matter, Zoe reluctantly does as Maharba asks, only to find the mission is much more than she bargained for when she encounters a dangerous Daimon and a roguish, sexy man named Joe Halloran who can see Zoe in astral form, and who realizes that her powers are greater—and potentially more dangerous—than she’d suspected. An excellent follow-up to Zoe’s first outing, and the ending will leave readers hungry for more. --Kristine Huntley

Review

Praise for Wraith:

“Brisk pacing and brain-wrenching plot twists.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Should appeal to fans of Tanya Huff’s Vicky Nelson series and Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series.”
—Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 361 pages
• Publisher: Ace Trade; 1 edition (June 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044101593X
• ISBN-13: 978-0441015931
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,323,793 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Phaedra was born in Pensacola, Florida on the day of the Boston Tea Party, in the year the Beatles came to America. The first child, she lived in Pensacola with her parents until she turned four when her parents moved to the small southern town of Hazelhurst, GA. There she attended grades 1 - 12, burying herself in stories both on television and in books. Movies weren't as frequent in the beginning as the only theatre was over an hour away in Vidalia, GA. Phaedra later went on to attend college to pursue a career in the Graphic Arts industry. Her first book, WRAITH, was published in 2007. Since then, she's written a number of works available in print and in ebook format. GRIMOIRE is the first book in her latest series. GEIST, the next in the Zoë Series will be released in 2011.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Response to Ruth's post, July 22, 2008

By 

T. C. O'Conner (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spectre (Zoe Martinique, Book 2) (Paperback)

This is the first post I have ever made, because although I love to read, I hate to write. I felt I had to respond to the post by Ruth Ingram. After reading her post, I was expecting something totally different than the first book. I also expected to see the phrase, "nipples popped up like raisins," a bunch of times. The book was written in the same way as the first book. It made me laugh at times, usually due to Zoe's inner dialog (which is one of the things I loved in the first book). I was waiting to be annoyed by the "raisin nipples," but was surprised to not see the phrase till about 1/3 of the way through the book. After reading Ruth's post, I expected to see the phrase repeatedly after this point. I am not trying to be contradictory, but that was the only time raisin's and nipples were used in the same sentence in the entire book. The book lived up to my expectations and I throughly enjoyed it. The one thing I will comment on is that it definitely leaves a lot of questions unanswered, which to me is a good thing because that means there should be a third book (there better be!). I would also liked to have seen a small section that reminded me of what many of the words meant (kind of like a dictionary). I tended to forget the exact specifications of some of the words (e.g. symbiont, Phantasm, etc). Overall, this was a great read for me!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Character Voice; Interesting Story, August 25, 2009

By 

Julie (NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Spectre (Zoe Martinique, Book 2) (Paperback)

Although this is not the best book I've ever read, it was a solid 4.4. I'd say 4.5, but then I'd have to round up and it wasn't that good. I personally enjoyed Zoe's inner dialog, it made her more real to me, but I can also see how some people could find that highly annoying.

I've never read the first book, though I probably will some day. This book is obviously the second of what the author intends to be a longer series. (best guess would be 4 or 5, whatever the market will bear I guess.) In this book, Zoe's still getting used to her newfound powers as a Wraith and discovering new aspects to that power.

The plot was rather basic, by that I mean I felt like I'd heard it all before, and the other characters were just so-so. Still, Zoe's inner voice was just plain funny. For those of us sensitive to profanity, um there is a lot of it in here. Granted, some of it is very well placed and very funny. For some reason, I couldn't tune my reading ear to hear a Southern accent throughout most of the book, which I found strange given the setting.

One thing that bothered me was the lack of a feeling of closure at the end of the book. Saying much more than that would give away some pretty big plot twists, but it's like the feeling at the end of the Empire Strikes Back. Yeah, maybe things are ok for now, but there's so much left undone. I really dislike those blatant sort of buy-the-next-book ploys. Oh and another thing, it's not really an "investigation" I mean the woman does more work just trying to figure herself out than murder mystery type thing. Things just seem to fall into place around her.

Lovely book overall, looking forward to more, sort of wish it were for a younger crowd though, so I could recommend it to kids. I think it's one of the best examples of voice I've seen in a long time.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great story, fresh ideas- loved it., January 8, 2009

By 

Kristy M. Cardamone (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spectre (Zoe Martinique, Book 2) (Paperback)

I saw a few bad reviews on this book, and I just had to answer. Frankly, I can't see what they are complaining about. The author is just hitting her stride after writing two very original books. In this time when we are swamped with cliched paranormal fiction, I have to give these books their due- the story is excellent, unusual, and the powers of the main charactor are unusual and not at all mainstream. The book is a hint of fresh air in a genre getting crowded and stuffy- and way to cookie cutter with charactors, powers repeated over and over, and plots that we have all seen before. I really enjoyed the books, and ran to check when the next one was coming out as soon as I was done. I hope the author continues the series.