Crown of Stars: The Night Song Trilogy, Book 2

This supernatural historical serial killer novel moves at a snail’s pace, and its protagonist comes off as two-dimensional and shallow. Shortly after the events of Love Is Red, Katherine Emerson is still reeling from her encounter with serial killer David Balan, aka the Sickle Man. Her boyfriend (and David’s best friend), Sael de Villias, has left her, and she’s pregnant with Sael’s baby and raising Lucas, the four-year-old son of one of David’s victims. After she tells Sael about the pregnancy, he asks her to go to London with him, and she agrees, but strange things have been happening and she can’t quite leave her uneasiness behind. Once she’s in London, Sael is distant and the odd occurrences only increase. Katherine’s narrative is paralleled by that of Margaret, an Englishwoman with special powers who lived hundreds of years ago and is inextricably tied to Katherine and a soul thief called the Entity. Margaret’s passages are very atmospheric, but they give the story a choppy feel. A late twist is too over the top. Readers who didn’t read the first book will be hard-pressed to keep up. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM. (June)