Good book, not great, but good

I enjoyed the story of the special FBI team coming in to town to help. That story line was fun to follow. I liked the FBI main character as well. The "cop" main character wasn't as likable, I just didn't care enough to feel anything about him, he wasn't quite developed enough. The romance also, was too simpering for me and not believable. I enjoyed the "creepy" parts and the little bit of the twist, I also enjoyed the ending.

3 people found this helpful

Awsome Book

A Jack the Ripper remake for the modern day. It was a great audiobook. The narrator made you feel as though you were right there. It kept you guessing right to the end. Definitely recommend this book.

3 people found this helpful

Good storyline

What made the experience of listening to Sacred Evil the most enjoyable?

The storyline

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Somewhat

What does Luke Daniels bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He is a good narrator

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No

Any additional comments?

I love Heather Graham's storyline about the Krewe of Hunters and the paranormal they investigate, but for me, there is too much he said, she said. I listened to other audiobooks and the narrator is able to distinguish the characters by changing his/her voice. It's okay sometimes, but seems like every sentence/paragraph is that way.

3 people found this helpful

Blatantly commercially driven and banal

Would you ever listen to anything by Heather Graham again?

This was my first book by Graham. The book has a somewhat interesting intrigue and started out okay. It then devolved into a hardly held together mix of ghosts, murder mystery, romance, celebrities and satanist cults from Victorian England. I would guess themes selected by careful marketing study of some book-buying subgroup of the market. It would take a master writer to make something sensible out of that list of preselected selling points, and Graham is not it. Banal dialogue, blatant holes in the plot and unbelievable characters that change when it suits the writer, rather than when it would fit their psychology. Lessons learned: marketing should not decide the contents of books. I really hope the selected audience for this book sees through this thin soup of a book. AND I will avoid Heather Graham in the future.

What character would you cut from Sacred Evil?

The characters start out okay, but change in ways that just don't fit. I mean; the cop who doesn't believe in ghosts accepts to work with a state-financed group of mediums - because "everything that might help the case is good"?! He is also a workoholic that never sleeps, but somehow manages to have bulging muscles to attract the female protagonist? And she majored in film studies a few years back, but now works as a full time medium for the FBI? Okay, it might be I expect too much of a book that is crafted merely to give a few cheap, entertaining chills to selected audiences. But be warned - if you expect more of books than that, keep far away from this one!

6 people found this helpful

Enjoyable

Enjoyable but not rivitting. A look into the past and an insight into the crimes of Jack the Ripper

6 people found this helpful

Series!

Read for Fun
Overall Rating 4.00
Story Rating 3.75
Character Rating 4.25

Audio Rating: 4.50 (not part of the overall rating)

First Thought When Finished: I am really enjoying the Krewe of Hunters!

What I Loved: The Team! I know each of them so well by now that it is always a joy when I hit half way through the book and they all show up! I wait for the moments where they are talking, working out the case, and in general offering support to each other. It seems silly but the team work is just part of what makes them shine! I love when authors can make you fall in love with the friends not just the romances in a story.

What I Liked: Whitney and Jude's romance was sweet and not overwhelming to the story. I would have liked for there to be a little more with the romance but that seems to be secondary in the Krewe stories. I am actually ok with this.

Audio Review: I love Luke Daniels and I think this was the best of audio of the series so far. Now I do recognize that he "reuses" voices from other series that he has narrated but that is only distracting for a few minutes in this entry.

Final Thought: If you like Paranormal Mystery/Thrillers I would say pick up this series.

2 people found this helpful

Would Have Been Good Except for All of the

The mystery portion of the book was OK but there was this very sophomoric romance that was a total distraction. Graham needs to decide ahead of time if she's writing a romance or a mystery -- then stick to the plan.

Luke Daniels did a good job with the narration.

5 people found this helpful

Dumb

What a dumb book.

The writing was riddled with inappropriate literary references and even a few misused words.

The premise, an FBI special unit comprised of agents with the ability to see ghosts, is strange, but whatever. I thought it would be fun. It was just dumb.

The female characters were all fluttery and dependent on the strong, decisive male characters.

The sex scenes were gratuitous, completely unnecessary to develop either the story or the characters.

The police procedural aspects were poorly conceived and executed.

The ending was predictable.

Why did I listen to the end? Two reasons. The narrator, Luke Daniels was pretty good. He is the reason I gave this title an overall two stars instead of one. The other reason is that I'm a compulsive reader and a book has to be abysmal for me to stop before the end.

If you like ghost stories, you might like this. If you like police procedurals, save your money.

7 people found this helpful

Krewe of Hunters at their best

I love the Krewe of hunters novels. I actually started with The Unholy (come on Bogy as a ghost?, amazing!) and working my way back and have since kept up. The best Krewe books are the first two series, when the series fixed on a specific team instead of jumping characters all the time (also some of the newer story lines are rather reminiscent of earlier books, but after 25+ books that's not surprising). This particular book focuses on Whitney the NOLA video wiz and granddaughter of a voodoo priestess. The history is Jack the Ripper, I don't know jack about jack so I assume Ms. Graham did her homework, it seems plausible. The setting is New York, the hero is a NY detective, and I love Jude and his father. I'm a sucker for animals so the fact that Jude has a cat and Whitney is haunted by a ghost dog is very enjoyable to me. There are a few minor flubs in the narration, notably the names Jude and Jake get switched a couple times (Jude is the hero and new to the Krewe world, Jake is a member of the Krewe and is part of this book as well), although it may be a mistake in the actually text, I don't remember. I always adore Luke Daniels' narration, he does the females well without sounding like a bad caricature. No one can beat Mr. Daniels for doing a western male and his narration is so appropriate for ghost stories. He also does accents for most of the characters. One thing I have noticed is that Mr. Daniels isn't always consistent with his accents for characters across novels. For example, Jenna Duffy is Irish and in the first series of books she has an Irish accent but in her most recent outing (I believe it's The Betrayed) she no longer has an Irish accent. Will Chan also gains and looses his accent (he definitely sounds like he's from Trinidad in The Unspoken but not in other books, particularly this one). Within an individual book, this isn't an issue but if you want to listen to the series it's a bit jarring.

a good book

I don't believe in the paranormal but I do enjoy heather grahams books and have for years. This is a good addition to the krewe