Tortured Spirits

The fourth installment in Lamberson%E2%80%99s Jake Helman Files (after 2011%E2%80%99s Cosmic Forces) is an action-packed blend of hard-boiled urban fantasy and pulpy horror. Only one person in the world can help intrepid New York City PI Helman change his cop friend Edgar Hopkins back into human form: a white witch named Miriam Du Pre. Before she agrees to attempt the transformation, Helman must free her husband, a political prisoner, from a Caribbean island ruled by a drug-lord dictator with an army of zombies at his beck and call. Series fans will applaud the audacious moves in this high-octane installment, but the explicit and at times protracted descriptions of crude sex (%E2%80%9CJake felt hot membrane engulfing him%E2%80%9D) and gory conflicts with the walking dead will make readers grimace for all of the wrong reasons. (Oct.)