THE PROPHET (The Graveyard Queen #3) by Amanda Stevens
THE PROPHET (The Graveyard Queen #3) by Amanda Stevens
From Amanda’s website:
Never acknowledge the dead.
Never stray far from hallowed ground.
Never associate with those who are haunted.
Never, ever tempt fate.
My name is Amelia Gray. I am a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. In order to protect myself from the parasitic nature of the dead, I’ve always held fast to the rules passed down from my father.
THE PROPHET is the third instalment (April 2012) in The Graveyard Queen paranormal series by Amanda Stevens. Amelia Gray is a caulbearer-born behind the veil in the Gray-the place between the Light and the Dark. With her ability to see and speak to ghosts, Amelia dismisses her father’s warning and inadvertently acknowledges a couple of ghosts who’s spirits have refused to move on. But these ghosts have a history-one is the young daughter (Shani) of her ex-lover and the other is a cop murdered in one of the cemeteries that Amelia was restoring-and somehow these two ghosts were haunting Amelia for her help.
The ghosts are drawn through the veil (The Gray) by a hunger for human warmth or a desire to rejoin the living. But there are some who continue to be earthbound-beyond their control-when a lover or family member refuses to let go.
John Devlin is a police officer and Amelia’s ex-lover. He does not understand why Amelia has pushed him away. But Devlin is haunted by guilt and the ghosts of his deceased wife and daughter, and it is through these associated hauntings that Devlin has inadvertently released the spirits that continue to draw on Amelia’s life force. But when Robert Fremont (aka The Prophet), the murdered police officer, is able to cross onto the hallowed grounds where Amelia lives she knows she now has a much bigger problem. Her sanctuary was her protection and now the ghosts are able to make contact. And Robert needs Amelia’s help to solve his murder and cross-over. But it is through Amelia’s search, that she soon realizes that Robert’s murder and the death of Devlin’s wife and daughter are connected and it is up to Amelia to solve the case, and allow Devlin’s hauntings a peaceful retreat. But not all ghosts are so easily convinced and one in particular is willing to disrupt and haunt Amelia for as long as it takes.
We are introduced to a cast of eccentric characters who live and haunt the cemeteries and homes of Charleston. Ethan Shaw a forensic anthropologist and his father Dr. Rupert Shaw-who heads the centre for parapsychology studies: Darius Goodwine-Shaman and brother to Devlin’s late wife Mariama: And Isabel and Clemetine Perilloux-sisters with a long-standing connection to John Devlin.
There is plenty of storyline surrounding the use of African medicine and the practice of witchcraft and voodoo. Some religious cultures believed in the rite of passage for the young initiates to enter the spirit world and converse with their dead ancestors-before being accepted into the cults. With their ability to pass through into another realm by consuming plants with magical powers and it is these medicinal plants and their powers that will be at the apex of Amelia’s investigations.
Blackmail, drugs, murder, ghosts, witches, shamans and voodoo all play an important role during Amelia’s search for answers. But it is the persistence of a small female ghost that will push Amelia further into a world that she may never return (from).
THE PROPHET is a well-written story about murder, hauntings, spiritual beliefs and the use of powerful hallucinogens. I did not read the first two storylines in the series and I was somewhat at a disadvantage through much of the novel, when the author made reference to incidences in the previous books. I would highly recommend reading THE RESTORER (book 1) and THE KINGDOM (book 2) before attempting THE PROPHET. I am looking forward (or backward ) to reading the first two books in this series.
reviewed by Sandy
Copy provided by Netgalley
