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Dark Light (Ghost Hunters, Book 5) | 
 enlarge | Author: Jayne Castle
Publisher: Jove
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy New: $3.25
You Save: $4.74 (59%)
New (43) Used (16) from $1.79
Avg. Customer Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 2076
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Edition: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 390
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 051514519X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780515145199
ASIN: 051514519X
Publication Date: August 26, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Tabloid reporter Sierra McIntyre wants a scoop when she interviews Ghost Hunter Guild boss John Fontana about the disappearances of retired, homeless hunters. She doesnt want to trust the physically and psychically powerful man, but her intuitionand her dust bunny companiongive her the green light. To uncover the conspiracy within his own organization, Fontana proposesmarriage. And though its purely a business arrangement, theres nothing pure about the attraction that sizzles between them.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...
NIce addition to the Harmony series September 27, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I liked the characters and I especially liked Elvis the Dust Bunny. How absolutely cute for the coffee drinking Dust Bunny to be running around in a white sequend cape with sunglasses. Did I mention the "King" coffee cup or the dressing room? HA! Elvis definitely stole "the show." Sierra working for a gossip magazine and Fontana bribing her into marriage was fun to read about, too.
 A bit too quick... September 26, 2008
On the bright side, the plot of Dark Light has an interesting and different premise from the others in the Harmony series. Retired Ghost Hunters are being kidnapped off the streets, and/or being lured by an illegal drug called "ghost juice". Both the main characters want to figure out the mysteries of the missing hunters and the source of the new drug. Additionally, a purple ghost light that stuns or kills and seems impenetrable needs to be found and destroyed.
A little mystery (not difficult to figure out and too easily resolved, but still different from the usual), a dust bunny with Elvis aspirations, a new Hunter Talent, romance that blossoms and eventually satisfies.
Unfortunately, there is another side...
The first problem, mentioned by several other reviewers, is the instant marriage decision (within 47 minutes after first meeting) between the main characters, Fontana (a Guild boss) and Sierra (a tabloid journalist). I'll buy an honest attraction, maybe an offer of dinner and drinks, a little dancing, a goodnight kiss (oh, hell, maybe a quick roll in the sack, I'm good with that), but instant marriage? Please. Even with the ridiculous excuse of a way to protect the heroine, the premise didn't come close to credible. Tell the little woman to watch her back, hire a few guards, take her into protective custody, anything, just don't suggest marriage before even holding hands.
Second problem. Ms. Castle, most of us really HAVE read the other books in this series. I don't need the repeated (and repeated) rhetoric about the Curtain closing, UDEMS, para-resonators, etc., etc., etc. I started skimming those references four books ago, I'm sure most of your other fans have as well. We already know the history, plunking it down during the middle of conversations and action sequences is not necessary, is annoying and delays the story.
3 stars because although Dark Light is mediocre for her Harmony books, Ms. Castle/Quick/Krentz is always readable, even when uninspired.
 Elvis Is Back...and He's in Harmony! September 23, 2008
I am so very glad Jayne Ann Krentz has revived the Harmony series. These Ghost Hunters get more and more interesting as each book progresses, and their talents are more and more out there. The phrase "Dark Light" would make no sense to anyone but the readers(and beleivers)of the residents of Harmony. I also love how she gives a nod to all her other series(the Arcane Society), and ties in all the past characters of the Ghost Hunters series. I suppose it would make sense, as Harmony is made up of small city-states. I would like to see her make a romance for a female Ghost Hunter, as we know it's possible(rare, but possible)for women to be hunters. Asd long as she keeps including those cute dust bunnies, I'll be buying this series! I still think she should market these bunnies as toys(I've been saying since the first book I would LOVE to own a dust bunny. I've added it in every review I've ever written about the series)and sell them on her site. I, for one, wouldn't mind owning a six pawed, four eyed piece of dryer lint with lethal teeth and a unique personality. Who wouldn't?
Ghost Hunter #5 September 18, 2008
The books in this series are always fun to read if you like fantasy. This book introduces a ghost hunter with a different kind of power. The plot is intricate, the romance is good, and more characters are introduced. I like the series as it continues on from previous books, but each book also can stand alone. The fantasy of humans adapting to another planet is well done and the link between humans and dust bunnies is mysterious.
More action than romance September 16, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Before I get to the book (which was OK, not my favorite by this author but not bad), I have to rant about the cover art. If I was unfamiliar with the author, I would have passed on this book purely because of the cover. It is a throwback to the old days of barechested cover models but the model they chose didn't reflect Fontana's appearance or character as described in the book. Sierra thinks no one would describe Fontana as handsome but he is compelling and you would always know he was the man in charge. The cover model doesn't look like a powerful, intriguing man who is head of an organization of dangerous men. He looks like a vaguely pretty boy in a bad wig pouting because the Abercrombie and Fitch closed before he could get to the mall. Even though I wasn't wild about the book, it deserved a better cover than this one. I hope when the publishers do a reprint, they change the cover.
Now to the book. This book continues my general complaint of the author's more recent books (under all 3 of her writing names): there isn't enough romance. And by this I don't mean there isn't enough sex (though readers who want lots of sizzling sex scenes should know there is very little sex on the book). When I read a romance, I want to vicariously experience the characters falling in love. A good romance novelist (and I would definitely put the author in that category) knows how to convey this. I didn't feel much emotional sizzle in the book -- it was a zero hanky read for me.
The action/investigation part of the book is better than the romance aspect, but it wasn't the most compelling plot the author has written. I'm getting a little tired of novels about Guild ghost hunters and dust bunnies. The book references other paranormal abilities in the population so it would be nice to have books about people with those abilities. I liked that Sierra had her own paranormal abilities and it was a nice touch to reference the Arcane Society from the author's books under her Jayne Anne Krentz and Amanda Quick names, but Sierra's abilities weren't used enough except as a warning system. (I note from the excerpt at the back of the book, there is a new Arcane Society novel where the heroine has a similar ability.) The inclusion of the tabloid newspaper as a breaking news source was amusing. A dust bunny Elvis was less amusing. Doesn't anyone in Harmony have a different pet?
My opinion of this book is probably more negative because I had just finished re-reading (for the umpteenth time) "Orchid," one of the author's much earlier "through the Curtain" novels. This book did not compare favorably. "Orchid" (as well as "Amaryllis" and "Zinnia") had all the plot and action of this book plus a lot more romance. I hope the author will look back at her earlier books and remember how she wrote the emotional story.
In the meantime, I highly recommend that readers go out and find Orchid, Zinnia and Amaryllis. I think they are out of print but at least 2 of them are fairly easy to find.
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