The Forgotten Dead
by Jordan L. Hawk
Genres: Horror, RomancePages: 178
Series: OutFoxing the Paranormal #1
Rating:
Synopsis:Parapsychologist Dr. Nigel Taylor doesn’t work with psychic mediums. Until, that is, a round of budget cuts threatens his job and an eccentric old woman offers him a great deal of grant money. The only catch: he must investigate a haunted house with a man she believes to have a true gift.
Oscar Fox, founder of the ghost-hunting team OutFoxing the Paranormal, has spent his life ignoring the same sort of hallucinations that sent his grandmother to an insane asylum. When he agrees to work with the prestigious—and sexy—Dr. Taylor, he knows he’ll have to keep his visions under wraps, so his team can get a desperately needed pay day.
Soon after Nigel, Oscar, and the OtP team arrive at the house, the questions begin to pile up. Why is there a blood stain in the upstairs hallway? What tragedy took place in the basement? And who is the spirit lurking in the closet of a child’s bedroom?
One thing is certain: if Oscar can’t accept the truth about his psychic abilities, and Nigel can’t face the demons of his past, they’ll join the forgotten souls of the house…forever.
On re-reading this, I found I’d never posted my original review here! So here it is now.
I found The Forgotten Dead genuinely a bit creepy — not necessarily the ghost story, in fact, but the backstory, the way the ghosts of the story became ghosts. The human motivations, however twisted they were, which led to the haunting and created the whole situation in the first place.
The group set up here is cool. It doesn’t go much beyond it: this is clearly the setup for a series, so the characters are a bit sketched in, no doubt to develop further later. Likewise, the beginnings of the romance are just that: beginnings. Nigel and Oscar forge a connection, and there’s obvious potential for them to be a couple (and given the books Hawk normally writes, it’s obvious that’s where it’s going), but we’re by no means at our destination. I’m a little nonplussed at reviews complaining about insta-love, because I don’t see that there. Oscar’s clearly a kind guy who feels drawn to Nigel and — in a highly charged emotional situation where they’re in physical danger — forms a bit of an infatuation. The same happens for Nigel, who is also lonely and badly in need of the affection and closeness. I don’t think Hawk tries to make out that they are instantly soulmates, or anything like that.
I’m looking forward to more of this group, and especially to knowing more about the group’s sponsor. Obviously she has motivations of her own, and there’ll be more information about that to come. Likewise, I hope we learn more about each member of the group: this book showed us Nigel’s past, and some of Oscar’s, and I’m sure there’s more to see there — but I hope for more of the supporting characters, too.
Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)
