Anne Waverly is an extremely bright and well-respected professor in her small Mid-western university. To an outside observer, she would appear to have a quiet academic existence. However, there is a lot more to this professor than her teaching pursuits.

Anne Waverly is an expert on religious cults. Author King brings us right to the heart of Anne's dilemma at the start of her story. The FBI uses Anne to infiltrate various cults that are believed dangerous or self-destructive (think Jonestown.) Although this can be life-threatening and Anne has been physically harmed before (thus her limp), she continues to work for the FBI when Agent Glen McCarthy asks her.

Why would she put her life on hold, disappear for months at a time, assume a false persona, endure harsh conditions and more for the FBI? Does the FBI have something on Anne to force her into this work? Well, they do and they don't. Anne herself was once a member of a suicidal cult, and had a very tragic experience. Her motivations seem to be guilt, penance, or as Glen McCarthy says, "her own form of suicide." Whatever her mixed motivations, Anne once again takes on a new job for Agent McCarthy, investigating the Change cult.

With 800 members and branches in California, Arizona, Boston, Japan, France, England and Germany, the Change group has caught the government's attention. Steven Change (with a chemistry background) runs the compound in Arizona, the one Anne (now Ana Wakefield) will first infiltrate. His counterpart in England is Jonas Seraph, a brilliant physicist who runs a secluded country estate of Change members. Both men seem to have an unusual preoccupation with fire, and some illegal arms problems in the sect's past have worried the FBI.

Anne Waverly is very skilled and clever when it comes to working her way into a suspicious religious group. Slowly but surely she becomes part of the Arizona group, and learns their unusual religious beliefs. Anne especially worries about the fate of the children in the cult and becomes very emotionally involved with a troubled brother and sister.

As the story progresses and Ana eventually moves to the estate in England, King creates an extremely foreboding atmosphere: you just know something bad is going to happen. The story delves into much religious history and discussion of the ancient practice of alchemy. (If you didn't know much about alchemy before this, Laurie King makes sure you will.) Jonas Seraph becomes an increasingly scary figure and wouldn't you know he becomes quite obsessed by Ana.

This is truly one of those books which creates a powerful sense of "something wicked this way comes." In fact, there is so much tension, you may even feel a bit let down by the climax. (I wanted another chapter or at least an epilogue.) King is very skilled at creating intricate and unusual characters. Her detailed portrayal of Anne Waverly is unnerving at times. This is not a book to be read by the pool; A Darker Place requires attention, intelligence and thoughtfulness. It is not in the same vein as King's Mary Russell or Kate Martinelli novels. All the same, it is another fine work in her collection, one that is both absorbing and challenging.

--Martha Moore