Mimi Tran is a well-known and well-respected psychic and one of her clients discovers her body in her apartment. It is an apartment decorated with the weird; demons, mythical creatures etc., but setting the tone quickly for the novel is the discovery of the severed head of her parrot stuffed in her mouth, and within the beak of the bird is a strange bead that changes color. Her mutilated body has also had her eyes removed.  

The characters are slowly introduced; the detectives “Seven” Bushard and his perky sexy partner Erika draw the case and start a leisurely investigation. Absent is the usual tension in a suspense novel, although the city begins to realize it is within the grips of a potential serial killer.  

The lovely psychic Gia Moon comes to the police station to tell them another murder will occur and she thinks she will be the victim. Her “powers” are showcased through the paintings she creates while in a semi-trance. And these are pretty brutal and graphic. Erika would like to think Gia is the killer, and Seven thinks with his hormones.  

As the reader meets the US psychic investigating agency that dwells on artifacts” another family presents. David Gospel, his pastel wife and his sociopathic son Owen become involved. Initially, because the glass bead was stolen from David. David Gospel is a multi millionaire who has begun to delve in the occult and has the money to support his habit with various archeological finds that bestow “great powers.” He is additionally living on the wild side with the choice of his mistress Velvet and her close connections to organized crime.  

Brutal murders continue and the mystery ambles its way to a conclusion, one that is totally unexpected but done so artfully that it does not feel contrived. The story is filled with dysfunctional people and their stories become subplots, but the investigation never truly focuses on any one suspect, but rather focuses on the balance between the savage and the ritualistic.  

Short on police procedure and actual investigating, the story is counterbalanced with very well drawn characters delving into the occult in unusual ways. It may or may not be a keeper depending on how you react to the sheer brutality of the crimes; but, it will nonetheless be a story you can not forget.  

--Thea Davis