Out of The Shadows - Kay Hooper

TO CATCH A KILLER, SHE MUST BREAK EVERY RULE AND CROSS EVERY LINE. A
picture-perfect Tennessee town has just become a monster's hunting ground. Two bodies are found tortured to death. A third person goes missing. What little evidence is left behind defies all explanation. Is the terror just beginning? Or have the good citizens of Gladstone harbored a dark secret for a long time?
Sheriff Miranda Knight is determined to make her small town safe once more. And she does what she swore she would never do: involve FBI profiler Noah Bishop.
He's the one man who knows about her unique abilities, and that knowledge almost
destroyed her and her sister years ago. Now, as Bishop arrives with his team of
agents, Miranda must learn to trust him and use her abilities once more. For
they're about to go on the hunt for a killer whose madness has no bounds, a
killer who knows exactly how to destroy Miranda: by preying on her sister.

The final book in the first trilogy of the Bishop / CSI series brings back Noah Bishop, this time as the main character.

Ever since the first book, Bishop has intrigued me. In the first book we realize he had a troubled past and that he is looking for someone, in the second book there is very little of him, only enough to keeps us in suspense. In this third book, we finally find who he was looking for and we find out what happened in the past.

Miranda Knight is the sheriff of a small town where a serial killer is abducting and killing teenagers. She has paranormal abilities, which she tries to keep hidden, that have helped her work on the cases but now it’s time to call the FBI. It is Noah Bishop and two of his profilers who are sent to help.

Noah and Miranda go way back. He keeps trying to get through to her and talk about the past but she doesn’t give him a chance. Miranda is not interested in apologies and making up. She just wants to catch this killer and send Bishop back to where he came from. Unfortunately, the mental effort she makes to keep him out is taking its toll and to find the answers they seek they might need to work together.

I really enjoy profiler stories (Criminal Minds is one of my favourite TV series) and so I was quite happy to see that this book is all about that. Bishop heads a very unorthodox profiling team and Hooper is excellent at maintaining the suspense and the pace of the action. I couldn’t wait to finish it and find out who was behind the murders. I tried to guess but had no success and was surprised in the end.

I am really enjoying the paranormal aspects of these books, especially books 1 and 3, and I am now looking forward to read the others in the series, which I gather, will feature both Bishop and Miranda. This was a great story, very fast paced and full of suspense and the only thing I felt was unnecessary was the final chapter. That final twist did not really add to the story in my opinion and I wonder why she keeps going in this direction (more similar to book two).

Grade: 4.5/5