Cricket Hunters

By: Jeremy Hepler

Narrated by: Cathi Colas

Celia (Garcia) Lundy was fifteen in the fall of 1998 when Abby Powell, one of her five friends who called themselves the Cricket Hunters, disappeared without a trace. Cops scoured the central Texas town of Oak Mott searching for Abby. Interviewed everyone. Brought in the Texas Rangers to assist. Three key suspects emerged and were focused on, but no evidence was found. Eventually, the case went cold, and the passage of time buried the truth of Abby Powell’s fate.

Fifteen years later, as the anniversary of Abby’s disappearance approaches, Cel’s life is upended when her husband Parker, also once a Cricket Hunter, goes missing. When bizarre clues surface that point to a link between Parker’s and Abby’s disappearances, Cel is forced to delve back into the past in order to navigate the present. With the help of her abuela, a self-proclaimed bruja, she embarks on a tumultuous journey fraught with confrontation and trickery, spells and spirits, theft and murder, in order to find out what happened to her husband, and why.

©2019, 2022 Jeremy Hepler (P)2024 David N. Wilson

You can choose your choices, but you can’t choose your consequences.

It was interesting to learn about cultural beliefs, and how it affects their lives. The choices we make as a teenager dictates the consequences we endure as adult adults.

Past & Present Magic

A time twisting parallel plot between a nostalgic past and present day disappearances with a subtle folk mysticism subplot. It’s a fun ride mingling timeframes well to keep the pacing interesting and present a more complex novel. The conclusion feels a little unpredictable even if there are clues that might be right in your face during the book. There is a character who using every day magic like protection spells in a matter of fact and inconsequential way yielding a look at her mindset and hopes but never coming across as too mystical or superheroic; I appreciated touches of subtlety like this. Narrator Cathi Coles does well with the material.