Psychic FBI agent Desiree Lincoln works with a team of other psychic agents recruited by Special Agent Taylor Jones to solve difficult cases. Desiree’s talents allow her to speak to the dead. As The Departed opens, Desiree (Dez) arrives on the scene just as Taylor’s team is about to invade the home of a serial killer of children.

Since the “bloodhound” agent that Taylor has on scene does not sense another living presence in the house, the rest of the team is skeptical when Dez insists that there is a child inside. A decision is made and Dez and Taylor break into the house alone. They rescue the child and the serial killer is stopped, but in the process Dez is gravely wounded. So begins a strange story, strangely written but strangely compelling.

When Taylor fetches Dez from the hospital upon her release, she finally gives in to her feelings and seduces him. They have a touching and seemingly meaningful night, but the next day Taylor is distant, making Dez realize that nothing essential had changed between them. Taylor advises Dez that due to her injury and their inappropriate personal interaction, Dez will have to take a three month leave of absence. Dez knows that three months will not be enough to change her feelings for Taylor and, since three months of bottling her psychic energy will likely kill her, resigns instead.

The pair do not see each for fourteen months, until Dez is called by the energy of a murdered teenager to the same small town where Taylor makes an annual pilgrimage to remember the disappearance of his six year old sister, twenty five years ago. They meet again when Dez calls for FBI backup to foil a kidnapping and murder of another teen. Taylor’s home town is a sick place and a large part of the reason that he pushed Dez away all those months ago. The time they spend together solving new and old murders forces Taylor to admit his feelings for Dez.

I didn’t think I was going to get through this book, based on the strength of the writing in the first couple of chapters. The sentence fragments. Made me crazy. A lot. And for some reason, Dez’s “warm brown skin” was mentioned ad nauseum. I found the writing to be choppy at best, and hard to follow. But as the story progressed the writing began to flow more pleasantly and I was too caught up in the plot to worry about any idiosyncrasies.

One can’t help being interested in such a jacked-up cast of characters. Dez and Taylor are both needy people, having survived difficult childhoods and dealing with the sense that they’re different from the rest of society. I found Dez especially fascinating, and was gratified when she didn’t immediately let Taylor back into her life upon meeting him again. Most of the secondary characters are either ghosts, villains, or heroes, and even the ordinary characters have terrible secrets.

You can’t beat this book for entertainment value. The plot is convoluted, and just when you think you know everything, it takes a hard left turn. The love scenes are hot, both raunchy and tender. There are attempts at murder and exciting last-minute saves. As secrets are revealed, the ghosts are laid to rest, one by one, sometimes extremely poignantly. The best part by far, though, was the growth of Dez and Taylor’s relationship. This is a couple that deserves their HEA.

This book is second in a series, after Missing – unfortunately not reviewed at AAR – but it read very well as a standalone. I’d recommend this book to any reader that likes paranormals or traditional romantic suspense.