REVIEWED by Jen B.
TITLE: Murder House
SERIES: Psycop
AUTHOR: Jordan Castillo Price
PUBLISHER: JCP Books, LLC
LENGTH: 272 Pages
RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2019
BLURB: Victor Bayne has survived demons, ghosts and repeaters. But can he survive a murder house?
Few people would willingly spend the night in a murder house, but Victor Bayne is up for the challenge. He’ll do whatever it takes to get a look at his permanent record, including going undercover in a townhouse where a recent death took place. Why not? There was no foul play involved, and as a psychic medium, he’d know if a ghost was creeping up on him. The whole “murder house” claim is just a product of a kid’s overactive imagination, and he’s confident he has the situation under control.
Until he gets a load of the smell.
Turns out, undercover work is a lot tougher than it looks. Vic misses Jacob something fierce. The subject of his assignment is a real piece of work. His partner has definitely got something to hide…and then the investigation takes a truly bizarre turn.
What happens if the murder house reveals itself to be more than just a schoolyard rumour?
REVIEW: First things first – Throughout this series, JCP has remained consistent with her characters, but especially with Vic and Jacob. Vic has always been a favorite character for me (though I do love Crash as well). I absolutely love his quirkiness, mannerisms, dry humor, etc. And when that shines through in each installment, it gives me the warm and fuzzies.
You certainly haven’t gotten this far into the series without enjoying it, regardless if you didn’t love every single one. That being said, this is a continuation that finds Vic at a bit of a crossroads. He is set on finding out what is in his personal report/file to give him clues to his past. Unfortunately, he lacks the security clearance to do so. In order to obtain said clearance, he takes on a position that requires undercover work. This turns out to be much more difficult than he imagined, but luckily he gets a helpful partner and undercover husband, Jack “Bly”. Not only does he have the issue of pretending to be someone else and learn to be comfortable in another skin (as well as skinny jeans!), but not having any contact with Jacob is proving to be a bit of a hardship.
Jacob is tasked with finding out if their neighbor is actually the Medium he claims to be. It was rather comical to watch the old man thwart Jacob’s every attempt at getting that answer. Then, there is the issue of the Murder House, or the townhouse he and his “husband” just moved into. One where its previous owner died. Vic comes to many realizations on this journey, from how much Jacob means to him and the depth of their relationship, to finding out more about his past and what that would actually mean. Underlying his need to get answers is his fear of Jacob doing it for him if he isn’t able to and the fact that he would inevitably get caught. Just when Vic seems content to let the past lie in the past, Jack comes through at the end and shares some details of Vic’s file that bring it all back to the surface.
The horror of the Camp Hell days are still very much a part of Vic’s current life. It really doesn’t seem as though he will be truly settled until he has some more answers, though I’m not sure anything he will find out could end up being all that soothing. Regardless, I’m super happy to know that this isn’t the last we will see of these guys. This installment focused on Vic, and I admit I did miss having more Jacob interaction. However, this is one paranormal story that stands on its own in terms of uniqueness, and I’m looking forward to continuing and seeing these guys again.
RATING: 
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