Book Review- Stealing Shadows by Kay Hooper

Stealing Shadows by Kay Hooper is a paranormal romantic suspense about psychic Cassie Neill's ability to enter the minds of serial killers. Stealing Shadows is the first book of the first trilogy featuring Noah Bishop, FBI agent and future founder of the Special Crimes Unit.

The story begins with Cassie Neill helping the police in Los Angeles, California as they try to save a child abducted by an unusually brutal serial killer. Cassie is haunted by her failures in the case and moves to the small, quiet town of Ryan's Bluff, North Carolina hoping to live a more peaceful life. Instead she is drawn into the mind of a disturbed man and learns he is intending to kill. After talking to disbelieving sheriff Matt Dunbar, Cassie turns to the respected prosecutor and former judge Ben Ryan. Though Ben is skeptical, he agrees to keep an open mind. When Cassie calls to inform him that the killer has done his deed, Ben contacts childhood friend Sheriff Dunbar after confirming the location of the body.

Cassie works with the aggressively skeptical sheriff to help locate and stop the killer while knowing her own life may end before she can truly explore her developing relationship with Judge Ben Ryan. When Noah Bishop appears on the scene, it further complicates matters between Cassie and the sheriff, who is reluctant to accept help from the FBI.

I am a fan of Kay Hooper's Bishop Special Crimes Unit series and a couple of her earlier works. Since I enjoy books featuring the paranormal, I especially like this one as it combines paranormal abilities in a realistic setting with realistic limitations.

Cassie Neill is not a recurring character in the series, but her story gives readers more information on how Bishop recruited psychics for his team and how different psychic abilities work. The romance is also realistic with a few steamy scenes but nothing so explicit that it detracts from the plot. This book, like the others in the Shadows trilogy (Hiding in the Shadows and Out of the Shadows), is a stand-alone story where previous knowledge of characters is not necessary.