cover image Blood Sins

Blood Sins

Kay Hooper, . . Bantam, $25 (296pp) ISBN 978-0-553-80485-0

In this disturbing paranormal thriller, the second in a trilogy (after Blood Dreams ) from bestseller Hooper, Noah Bishop, of the FBI's Special Crimes Unit, and Haven, “a civilian investigative organization,” take on the fanatical Rev. Adam Deacon Samuel. At age 10, Samuel murdered his abusive prostitute mother by using psychic powers, which a few years later increased after lightning struck him during a tent revival. Noah and his colleagues suspect Samuel, the leader of the Church of the Everlasting Sin, of killing at least eight people via supernatural means and of abusing young girls to enhance his powers. Tessa Gray, a Haven operative posing as a recent widow, reluctantly infiltrates Samuel's compound in the small town of Grace, N.C., near where the body of a fellow Haven operative surfaced in a river. Hooper pulls out all the stops in depicting the unholy preacher's apocalyptic breakdown as Noah's elite team tackles one of their nastiest assignments yet. (Dec.)