Title: Grave Echoes: A Kate Waters Mystery
Author: Erin Cole
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 9781452070186
Pages: 355, Paperback
Genre: Mystery
Reviewed by: Barbara Miller, Pacific Book Review
Book Review
Erin Cole masterfully put together a novel of modern day witchcraft, suspense and paranormal events in her psychological thriller Grave Echoes: A Kate Waters Mystery.Having premonitions of an auto accident and plagued by distressing recurring dreams, Kate Waters sadly learns the news that her sister Jevanna had been killed in a car accident. As Kate retrieves her sister’s possessions, she notices a strange key; one with a particular symbol of interleaved arches in a continuous design being among her belongings. What does that key unlock? Discovering inconsistencies in the details surrounding the accident, Kate’s suspicions are aroused about what exactly is going on. She then learns Jev was a practicing modern day witch, as the key becomes the focus of Kate’s investigation of Jev’s past.
Erin Cole takes the reader on a journey behind the black magic of witchcraft, with literary precision of credible character development and descriptions of uniquely unsettling paranormal activity. Set in Portland, Oregon and the surrounding area, Kate Waters inadvertently discovers in Jev’s locker at work items used to cast spells – some good and some evil – and realizes her sister was a practicing witch. Having strange encounters with prior friends and co-workers of Jev, things don’t add up. Kate goes to visit Donna, one of Jev’s friends working at an occult shop. There she learns about Jev’s practices and beliefs, whereas she decides to have a form of spell used for protection cast upon her.
Things go “more than bump in the night,” as Erin Cole creates an eerie series of events and realizations of her character Kate which showcase her contemporary style for creating modern day thrillers. Skillfully detailed with believable and quite chilling suspense, Kate is drawn into her own introverted logic of deciphering the truth, not knowing whom to trust, if anyone. The reader is drawn into Kate’s mindset beautifully.
Created within a storyline consistent of an intelligent person trying to figure out what has happened. Erin Cole demonstrates complete respect for her reader’s need-to-know and unfolds her plot in a generous way, keeping the level of suspense high, and cleverly foreshadowing her clues. Because of her mature storytelling ability, Grave Echoes emerges from what would normally be a “B Movie” to a novel of originality for those who may not even believe in the dark side of witchcraft. The reader grows close to Kate throughout the book as she finally works with a police detective to solve the mystery surrounding her sister’s death. At that point a terrible wolf call is heard off in the distance… is Jev still around?
