When Passion Lies

The fourth Shadow Keepers paranormal (following When Wicked Craves) pits the underground culture of shadowers—a loose alliance of vampires, shape-shifters, djinns, para-demons, and other supernatural entities—against vampire-werewolf hybrids whose acid blood and plague-inducing breath kill humans and turn vampires to dust. Ancient, strong-minded vampire Tiberius doesn’t trust the new shape-shifter leader, alpha werewolf Faro Lihter, who hates humans with a passion. Tiberius’s instincts are right, because Lihter plans to use hybrids to empty the planet so he can repopulate it in his own image. Meanwhile Tiberius’s old flame, the vampire Caris, who’s been living with werewolf leader Gunnolf since Tiberius banished her, returns with a deadly secret: Lihter’s Mengele-like scientist, Reinholt, kidnapped her and made her into a hybrid. Her background makes Caris the perfect spy to infiltrate weren politics for Tiberius, who still secretly loves her, but first the two must come to terms with their shared past. Despite some extraneous plot threads and unnecessary characters, the romance at the heart of Beck’s latest romantic paranormal thriller will keep fans hungry for more. Agent: Kimberly Whalen, Trident Media Group. (June)