Reviewed by Annika

TITLE: Principles of Spookology

SERIES: The Spectral Files #2

AUTHOR: S.E. Harmon

PUBLISHER: Self-Published

LENGTH: 439 pages

RELEASE DATE: January 14, 2020

BLURB:

Rain Christiansen, former FBI agent and current cold case detective, is starting to think it’s the hardest job he’s ever had—and the most important. He’s determined to accept all the changes in his formerly well-ordered life, but that means embracing a whole lot of weird. There’s no instruction manual for meshing his work with his medium duties, and he’s painfully aware that he’s flubbing the job. So are the ghosts, who are becoming increasingly impatient. And stronger.

To complicate matters, he’s not sure what these spooktacular developments mean for his relationship. It certainly seems like Daniel McKenna, his partner in work and life, is in it for the long haul. But Rain can’t help but wonder how long that patience will last…and what he’ll do if Danny decides the intrusive ghosts are just too much.

Rain thought accepting his supernatural gifts would be the solution to his troubles. But he’s starting to realize his problems are just getting started.

REVIEW:

It’s no secret that I loved and adored the first book when I read it a few years back. Ever since I finished reading P.S. I Spook You I have been hoping for more books with these with Rain and Danny. And here we are. Rain and Danny are working on cold cases with PTU, Paranormal Tactical Unit along with a select few others. The unit is still kind of new and somewhat rough around the edges. But that’s also what I liked about it. There were still growing pains here and there and they weren’t the well-oiled machine that I think they will be down the line.

Danny and Rain are making a second go of their relationship. They’ve been together a few months when we catch up with them and they spend almost every waking hour with each other, on and off the job. The love they feel for each other is there, you can feel it. But the hurt from the past is also present, it makes them both wary. In the beginning their relationship didn’t make sense to me. It felt like they were both quietly manipulating each other to further their own wants and needs, often the same wants and needs. But instead of talking things through and figuring stuff out together as a couple; there were off-hand comments, quiet moving of furniture and so on. Then I realised their behaviour made sense. They were both trying not to get hurt again by asking for too much, needing and wanting too much. They both loved each other and lived together, all but on paper, but the kind of hurt they had from their past is difficult to forget. They were never hurtful or spiteful in their ministrations, just cautious and treading lightly. It was nice to see that even though they were deeply in love, they still have issues to work through. The three magical words don’t solve everything and relationships have to be worked on and maintained. It’s a nice change from all the picture perfect surfaces we are overloaded with, in real life and in books.

Past hurts weren’t the only challenge their new relationship had to endure. The never ending strings of ghosts showing up any and everywhere sure put a damper on their lives. Rain was struggling to gain some kind of control, to set limits – to no avail. They only seemed to grow in number and in strength, pulling Rain into more and more dangerous situations. Rain wants control and Danny even more so, and he forces Rain to one spiritual guide after the other in the hopes that one of them could teach Rain something useful. Let’s just say that these guides might look good on paper, but they have never dealt with anyone like Rain – and hope fervently never to do so again. 😉

I really enjoyed the mystery portion as well. It all started with a night time visit from a ghost wanting to take Rain on a ride. When He Danny and the ghost arrive at their destination it becomes clear they are searching for a body, but they find so much more than that. The case grows exponentially and soon they aren’t just working the one case but looking into several cold cases where young men have disappeared. I’m a huge fan of police procedurals and mysteries. I love putting together pieces trying to figure out how they all fit – if they fit. There were many stops and starts to the investigations in this book, many leads and interviews followed up on. Some garnered a new direction some nothing at all, and that’s something that I personally always appreciate; when the investigation isn’t a direct and immediate line to the suspect, but you have to work for your answers.

Principles of Spookology was a nice follow-up to the first book and I’m definitely hoping that Harmon will write more about this duo. I’m thinking that there are definitely more adventures in their future and I would love to come along for the ride.

RATING:

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