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Witch Hunt: DAMNED
August 2007
Silhouette Nocturne Series
ISBN-13:978-0-373-61769-2
ISBN-10: 0-373-61769-0
THEIR ONLY SHOT AT SALVATION WAS EACH OTHER…
Police officer Ty McIntyre was cursed to find a girl no one had seen in twenty
years. And it was his job to save her from the dark forces swirling around her.
He found her locked away in a psychiatric hospital, where she thought she was
losing her mind. Born a witch, Irina Cooper was able to read other people’s
thoughts. She had never known the source of her power, or her true
heritage—until now. Irina could read Ty’s true intentions and sense his deepest
desires. But with a witch killer seeking to destroy the Cooper legacy, could
these ill-fated souls embrace Irina’s gift and end her family’s curse? And
beyond that, would they be able to save each other?
| Awards | Reviews |
Excerpt |
Reviewer: Amelia Richard, Senior Reviewer, Interview Coordinator
www.cataromance.com,
www.ecataromance.com &
www.singletitles.com
Star Rating: 4 Stars; Sensuality Rating: Sensuous
Teaser: DAMNED combines the supernatural with actuality in a heartfelt romance,
producing a chilling tale of enduring love.
With the constant action and rollercoaster emotions throughout the story, the
concluding book in the Witch Hunt trilogy will grab you with its building
suspense and powerful feelings. Lisa Childs has created an intriguing world
where the lives of three sisters become intertwined during the deadly hunt for
them by a deranged killer.
As one of the Cooper sisters with supernatural abilities, Irina did not have a
happy childhood after she was given up by her mother for adoption at a young
age. Since she was able to hear the thoughts of others in her head, she was
never able to fit into life at her new home and is now living on the streets.
Lately, the voices she hears are often those of two women whom she believes may
be her sisters, and who seem to be urgently looking for her. With her own
memories hidden from her or hard to separate from what she hears, Irina is
confused and afraid, especially of the one voice which sounds as though he wants
to harm her. When a frightening incident ultimately leads to her being confined
in a psychiatric ward, she fears the worst is about to happen to her.
As a good friend of Irina’s sisters, Ty McIntyre uses the talents he learned as
a policeman to help in tracking the missing sister. Though he is now suspended
from his dream career, Ty soon realizes finding Irina is the main focus of his
life now, and even occasionally breaks the law in the process. When fate has him
discovering her in the hospital, he uses a clever scheme in getting her out, as
he feels certain the man who wants the three witches killed for their powerful
charms is very nearby. Although Irina does not fully trust Ty, she knows staying
in the hospital is unsafe, so she follows his plan. Now these two must confront
not only the dangerous man after them, but also their troubling past.
With internal conflicts and often death-defying moments, Lisa Childs knows how
to draw readers into her Nocturne stories. In her compelling Witch Hunt trilogy,
there is never a dull moment, as there is always either an emotional issue or an
incident fraught with danger being faced by her main characters. The stakes are
extremely high in the third book, as the killer is even more single-minded in
his quest for the charms. However, with the fragile mental state of Irina at the
beginning of the story, the emotional aspect of the story is just as engaging as
the suspenseful one. Watching the relationship between her and Ty develop from
one of wariness to trust is beautifully handled by Ms. Childs, where each of
their scenes is packed with feelings which are profoundly felt and earnestly
depicted. This couple is each haunted by Appearances in their past, ones still deeply
affecting their present lives, and their futures, too, unless they look deeply
within themselves for answers. I was touched by the strong emotional connection
between Ty and Irina, where their thoughts and reactions are genuine with
honesty and caring. The evil in this story is terrifyingly portrayed with
ruthlessness and determination, and makes every occurrence where he is present
unnerving. With spirited characters and a thrilling plot, DAMNED is a rewarding
conclusion to an enthralling trilogy.
Reviewer: Heather M. Riley at RomanceJunkies.com
snippet:
This third book in Lisa Childs's Witch Hunt series is wonderful. It has all the
answers to questions raised in the previous two stories. This is definitely a
book to check out.
Is she Irina Cooper or Heather Bowers? She just doesn't know anymore. Heather is
who her adoptive parents wanted, but she knows that's not who she is. She was
born Irina Cooper, and just like her birth mother and older sisters, she's
cursed. Some would say she's gifted, but Irina knows better. Not only can she
hear the thoughts in others' heads, but she can feel their emotions as well.
Because of her abilities she's lost sight of herself; she's alone and on the
streets doing whatever she can to dull the sounds in her head.
Irina was getting by fine until a few months ago when she heard that first
scream. After that scream there were others, now Irina can hear everyone; she
can't control it. She can hear the sisters she hasn't seen in twenty years, and
they're looking for her They aren't the only ones. There's a killer trying to
find her also. Someone's resurrected a three-hundred-fifty-year-old vendetta
against her family. He's already tried for her sisters, and now he's after her.
There's another voice mixed in with the rest; this voice makes her want to come
out of hiding.
Ty McIntyre is putting everything he has into finding Irina. Ariel and Elena are
desperate to find their sister before the killer does, and Ty is determined to
find her first. Thanks to one of Elena's visions, they know she's homeless, but
they don't know exactly where she's hiding. Will Ty find her in time to save her
from the killer, or from herself?
Lisa Childs's Witch Hunt books are wonderful. DAMNED answered some questions
from the earlier books, Hunted and Persecuted. Ty is the classic tortured hero,
and saving Irina is what he needs to save himself.
Enough explanations are made in DAMNED that you could potentially read it on its
own. However, I highly recommend reading about all three sisters. It's
interesting to watch the women come together after being separated for so many
years. These books are as much about the sisters as they are about the love each
sister finds. These are books you don't want to miss, so pick them up today.
Prologue
This was home: the street. Where she slept. Where she ate-- if she remembered
to eat. Where she drank--if she could scrounge up enough money for a bottle. And
the drugs--they were easier to score.
But even here she couldn’t hide from the voices, couldn’t drown them out. They
kept whispering...in her head, the voices echoing in her mind, and it didn’t
matter...what she did.
She couldn’t shut them out.
Cardboard shifted and crumpled beneath her as she curled into a ball against the
wall of a brick building. The stench of moldy food and dirty diapers drifted
from the Dumpster behind which she lay, but she hardly noticed. She hardly
noticed anything...outside her head.
She pressed her hands against her ears, trying to block out the noise. Not the
rumble of traffic from the street, nor the murmured conversation drifting from
the other end of the alley where shadows crouched around a barrel with flames
lapping up the rusted rim.
The noise she tried to block was already inside her head, and her efforts were
futile. As the voices rose, her vision dimmed, the stars, streetlamps and the
fire at the end of the alley reduced to sparks in a sea of black. Blinded, her
hearing sharpened.
“Where could Irina be?”
The sparks glittered and danced against the black backdrop as she struggled to
recognize the voice.
“We have to find her before he does!”
Although she didn’t think she’d ever heard either of the two soft feminine
voices before, in person, they were oddly familiar. Despite the anxiety in these
adult voices, each of them resonated with the echo of a child’s laughter.
Her sisters...
She’d had sisters, hadn’t she? Her parents had told her no, that she’d been an
only child. That she was only theirs. But there was another life to which she
belonged...and it was calling her back.
“Irina...”
“Irina!”
She’d once been called Irina, twenty years ago, before she’d been taken away
from her mother and her sisters. Before she’d been adopted by a couple who had
wanted her to forget who she’d once been. They’d tried to convince her that
she’d been born to them; that she’d been born Heather Bowers. But they hadn’t
adopted her until she was nearly five. She remembered. And even if she hadn’t,
she’d heard their thoughts; she knew the truth.
She wasn’t theirs, and because of her uncanny ability to read their minds, they
didn’t want her to be. They couldn’t love her. But they’d tried.
Like her sisters were trying to find her now. Why, after all these years?
The sparks brightened like embers on a stoked fire, as the voices quavered with
fear.
“If he finds her first, he’ll kill her like he killed the others.”
“Like he killed our mother.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, so that even the sparks of light disappeared. But
she couldn’t shut out the voices. Others called to her, jumbled inside her head,
echoes of thoughts and fears she’d already heard.
“I’m not a witch.”
“Don’t kill me! Please, don’t kill me!”
But the killer ignored their pleas, and the women’s voices rose in screams of
terror and pain. Irina winced at the volume, which threatened to shatter her
skull, and she cringed at the agony expressed in each shrill cry. No matter how
long ago she’d first heard them, she couldn’t get them out of her head, couldn’t
forget their suffering. Not only had she heard their cries but she’d felt their
pain too. The fire scorching her flesh, burning her alive. The noose chafing her
skin, tightening around her throat until it cut off her last breath. The jagged
rocks piled one by one onto her body, crushing her beneath their weight.
She’d wanted to help them, but she hadn’t known where the women were. She hadn’t
been able to see them or their surroundings; she’d only heard them. Even if she
had been able to figure out where they’d been, she would have been too late to
save them. She’d wanted to help, but she couldn’t even help herself right now.
One of these screams, the first she’d heard filled with such agony and fear and
so hauntingly familiar, had driven her back here...to the street. Her biological
mother’s. She hadn’t heard her voice in twenty years, not in person, just many
times inside her head. With that scream, she’d known her mother had been killed,
even before she’d heard her sisters speak of her death.
Were they real? Any of them? The voices? Her memories? Or had that first scream
been the beginning of some kind of psychotic break?
Before hearing that scream, just months ago, she’d been managing. She’d been
living. Going to school. Working.
Now she was barely existing, just waiting...until the next scream...was hers.
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