Dark Rites

By: Heather Graham

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

"Graham is the queen of romantic suspense." RT Book Reviews

The witches, they are real

A series of bizarre assaults is mystifying Boston police: an unknown attacker is viciously beating random strangers and leaving a note quoting an old warning about witchcraft. History professor Alex Maple was one of the victims, and now he's gone missing. Vickie Preston is certain that someone has taken her friend for malicious purposes. She's having blood-drenched visions that seem to be staining her waking life, and the escalating attacks suggest that a dangerous cult is at work behind the scenes a cult so powerful that its members would rather die than be apprehended.

Vickie is grateful to have Special Agent Griffin Pryce and the FBI's elite Krewe of Hunters on her side. She and Griffin are finding their way in an increasingly passionate relationship, and Griffin is desperately trying to keep her safe and the two of them sane amid the disturbing investigation. The search for Alex will take them deep into the wilderness of Massachusetts on the trail of a serial killer, and it will take everything they have to survive the ancient evil that awakens and threatens not just the man they're striving to save but their very souls.

Good story line.

She always writes with an eye on history. I enjoy learning about the history of areas and the cleaver way she tells a story. Enjoy this series.

Overall, enjoy these stories….

I love to listen to audiobooks while I multitask. I’ve also basically enjoyed the Krewe series; however, I’ve noticed a trend to make many secondary characters sound really ignorant and/or overly dramatic. This one was true on both counts. Add that to a narrator who makes all females sound like “tenor” males and male characters sound like old “codgers.” Actually really like the narrator’s natural voice. I tend to space out the books in this series because of the annoyance I feel listening to each one.

Another story about Vickie and Griffin.

I very much enjoyed getting to see more of Alex in this book (who was introduced in the previous book, Dying Breath). While he was heavily featured as the catalyst for much of the story, he was not the main protagonist. That honor once again went to Vickie and Griffin. Honestly, I was surprised to see Heather Graham feature them again. While the appearance and help of couples and characters from previous books is rather commonplace in this series (for example, this book featured Devin and Rocky from The Hexed), this is the first time there have been multiple books with the same couple as the protagonists. Regardless, it was still a great story. It was engaging and well written. I have absolutely loved the Krewe of Hunters series and plan to keep reading it so long as Graham keeps writing new books.

As always, Luke Daniels did a fantastic job in his narration. Any book he narrates is better simply for him being the narrator. He is one of my favorite narrators. I love that he has narrated the entirety of the Krewe of Hunters series (with the exception of The Silenced, The Forgotten, and The Hidden [books 15, 16 and 17, respectively], which were narrated by Phil Gigante [also an excellent narrator]).

Interesting Twist

Although stories are somewhat similar, I enjoyed this one more than some of the previous. Not to imply I have not enjoyed the prior books in this series, the historical content in this particular story I found most fascinating and intriguing.

Good story

A good book kept me entertained and trying to figure out who did it.
Listened to it every day on the way to work.