Phantom Evil by Heather Graham

I really, really want to like this book.  Ghosts in New Orleans?  Right up my alley.  But OMG the writing is just not good.  The constant repetition, the way the characters say one thing then contradict themselves two sentences later and no one seems to notice, the sentences that don't actually say anything...it's driving me nuts!  And there's a bunch of filler that doesn't need to be in there.  The sex stuff can for sure go.  I know sex sells, but the relationship between Jackson and Angela seems forced and out of place.


Minor point, but why does no one in this book have brown eyes?  80% of the population has brown eyes, yet none of Heather Graham's characters do.  It's especially weird because she's got people of all races--Native American, African American, Asian American, etc.--and none of them have brown eyes.  It's just statistically improbable.  I suppose all the characters are left-handed, too.  The girl is just obsessed with blue eyes (although she did give a couple of people green and hazel eyes) to the point that I wonder what color her eyes are and if that's something she's insecure about.

 Wow, this woman doesn't know anything about how police departments work.  A detective with the NOPD can't just send officers out to monitor a house in Metairie.  They're different cities, in different parishes.  He'd have to call JPSO and ask for help.  There's this little thing called jurisdiction...

 Of course, she might just think Metairie is a neighborhood in New Orleans.  At one point the characters walk down Bourbon Street to Decatur on their way to a cafe on Royal.  That's quite a route considering the three streets are parallel to each other and Royal is between Bourbon and Decatur.  Dear Ms. Graham, if you don't know the city very well, consult a map!

 It wasn't great, but it wasn't so horrible that I couldn't finish.  There's over twenty of these books, so my plan now is to skip to number ten and see if the writing gets better.  If she improves, I can go back and read the ones in the middle later.  The woman repeats herself so much it is hard to imagine I won't be able to figure out what is going on with the characters!

**Update**  I tried reading book ten of the series, called The Night Is Alive.  I got three and a half chapters in and I just quit.  The characters--completely different people from the first book--were just terrible.  The dialogue was unrealistic, and their behaviors didn't make any sense.  I just can't with this series.

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