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After Dark (Ghost Hunters, Book 1)

After Dark (Ghost Hunters, Book 1)

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Author: Jayne Castle
Publisher: Jove
Category: Book

List Price: $7.99
Buy Used: $0.26
You Save: $7.73 (97%)



New (35) Used (99) Collectible (8) from $0.26

Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars 81 reviews
Sales Rank: 29627

Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.5 x 4.1 x 0.8

ISBN: 051512902X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780515129021
ASIN: 051512902X

Publication Date: September 1, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Stained Edges;Creased Cover;Book Bent Or Slightly Warped Our feedback rating says it all: Five star service and fast delivery! We've shipped four million items to happy customers, and have one MILLION unique items ready to ship today!

Also Available In:

  • Hardcover - After Dark
  • Kindle Edition - After Dark
  • Hardcover - AFTER DARK
  • Hardcover - After Dark

Similar Items:

  • After Glow (Ghost Hunters, Book 2)
  • Ghost Hunter (Ghost Hunters, Book 3)
  • Silver Master (Ghost Hunters, Book 4)
  • Harmony (Ghost Hunters)
  • Orchid

Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com Review
A race of aliens once lived on the future Earth colony called Harmony, leaving behind them the ruins of a vast, beautiful, and mysterious culture that is still protected by the psychic illusion traps and eerie ghosts that they created. Lydia Smith is an archaeologist who can resonate and dissolve the illusions, and those talents, combined with her lack of finances and questionable professional reputation, make her the obvious hire for Emmett London, who is trying to track down a lost antique and the nephew who stole it. Lydia's first consulting job quickly turns dangerous, however, as corpses, ghosts, and illusion traps start popping up--not to mention the rather unprofessional electricity between her and her first client.

In After Dark, author Jayne Ann Krentz, writing as Jayne Castle, describes a world that delightfully intertwines futuristic ideas like green-glowing marble, psychic amber, and six-legged pets with earthly characters like penny-pinching bosses, absentee landlords, and mafia wives trying to turn into high-society dames. The writing can feel a bit clunky: "The paranormal ability to resonate with amber and use it to focus psychic energy had begun to appear in the human population shortly after the colonists came through the curtain to settle the planet of Harmony," and the final chapters suffer from a similar lack of finesse in the tying up of loose ends, but Krentz's world is fantastical and fascinating, one that will keep you reading and your imagination soaring.--Nancy R.E. O'Brien

Product Description
A race of aliens once lived on the future Earth colony called Harmony, leaving behind them the ruins of a vast, beautiful, and mysterious culture that is still protected by the psychic illusion traps and eerie ghosts that they created. Lydia Smith is an archaeologist who can resonate and dissolve the illusions, and those talents, combined with her lack of finances and questionable professional reputation, make her the obvious hire for Emmett London, who is trying to track down a lost antique and the nephew who stole it. Lydia's first consulting job quickly turns dangerous, however, as corpses, ghosts, and illusion traps start popping up--not to mention the rather unprofessional electricity between her and her first client. In After Dark, author Jayne Ann Krentz, writing as Jayne Castle, describes a world that delightfully intertwines futuristic ideas like green-glowing marble, psychic amber, and six-legged pets with earthly characters like penny-pinching bosses, absentee landlords, and mafia wives trying to turn into high-society dames.


Customer Reviews:   Read 76 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars Very Good Book   January 31, 2008
I was somewhat pessismistic when I started reading this book, but after the first few chapters, I couldn't put it down...I would recommend this to anyone who loves Jayne Krentz, although set it another, alien world, you feel like you know what the place looks and feels like. By the end of the book, I really couldn't wait to get on with the story in After Glow. Which, by the way, I have fallen in love with Emmett London...so sexy!!


4 out of 5 stars After Dark   January 4, 2008
Loved this one. Sure would like to meet the hero in real life, but, then, he'd probably not be real would he?


5 out of 5 stars A good read   April 13, 2007
I've had this book a number of years and I often find myself re-reading it and enjoying it each time. It's a standalone book that works well on its own although there is a follow up, After Glow, which follows the same hero and heroine and is also great fun.

I believe this was the first of Jayne Castle/Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick's paranormal romances and when initially published it didn't do very well; however, after the market for these novels grew it became more popular and, I think, deservedly so.

Jayne Castle's strengths aren't particularly in fantasy worldbuilding (her worlds always seem to be pretty much like Earth but with one or two differences, rather than a more thought-provoking option). In this book, set on the planet of Harmony which has been stranded on its own since The Curtain, a kind of wormhole to Earth, closed, the people have spent 200 years living isolated and have discovered some strange abilities in some of them. It appears that everyone has a certain level of psychic ability - probably not psychic as we think of the word, but in fact an ability to operate some machinery, unlock doors etc with a burst of energy focused through amber. However, some people have far higher levels of this energy which goes in two directions - some become 'Ghost Hunters' and are able to manipulate the clouds of energy and use them as weapons or to dissolve them when they are found, and others become 'trap tanglers' who are able to dissolve the strange traps of psychic energy in the underground catacombs that can knock the unwary out, sometimes permanents. Ghost Hunters and Trap Tanglers have a kind of symbiotic working relationship but they also experience a lot of antagonism and professional jealousy.

Our heroine is Lydia Smith, a Trap Tangler who has lost her job since a bad experience six months ago (known as her 'Lost Weekend') when she was found in the catacombs after being caught in an illusion trap; most people think that she's lost the plot and is likely to have a breakdown. She's hired by Emmett London, a man who turns out to be a Ghost Hunter, to look for a family heirloom which has gone missing. Unfortunately in searching for the heirloom they find themselves stumbling over bodies and realise there's a lot more to the case than initially thought.

Jayne Castle writes the relationship between Emmett and Lydia very well. Their hunter/tangler disagreements are fun as we see the prejudice that they both hold against the other - and yet at the same time they are attracted to each other. However the romance is definitely a lesser part of the book than the plot and the plot is a good one - it's an interesting tale with twists and turns and some great side characters. There are flaws in this book, of course, including one or two unlikely plot areas, but it's still an enjoyable read. The sequel, "After Glow", looks more into Lydia's Lost Weekend and is equally good.



5 out of 5 stars A good read   April 13, 2007
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I've had this book a number of years and I often find myself re-reading it and enjoying it each time. It's a standalone book that works well on its own although there is a follow up, After Glow, which follows the same hero and heroine and is also great fun.

I believe this was the first of Jayne Castle/Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick's paranormal romances and when initially published it didn't do very well; however, after the market for these novels grew it became more popular and, I think, deservedly so.

Jayne Castle's strengths aren't particularly in fantasy worldbuilding (her worlds always seem to be pretty much like Earth but with one or two differences, rather than a more thought-provoking option). In this book, set on the planet of Harmony which has been stranded on its own since The Curtain, a kind of wormhole to Earth, closed, the people have spent 200 years living isolated and have discovered some strange abilities in some of them. It appears that everyone has a certain level of psychic ability - probably not psychic as we think of the word, but in fact an ability to operate some machinery, unlock doors etc with a burst of energy focused through amber. However, some people have far higher levels of this energy which goes in two directions - some become 'Ghost Hunters' and are able to manipulate the clouds of energy and use them as weapons or to dissolve them when they are found, and others become 'trap tanglers' who are able to dissolve the strange traps of psychic energy in the underground catacombs that can knock the unwary out, sometimes permanents. Ghost Hunters and Trap Tanglers have a kind of symbiotic working relationship but they also experience a lot of antagonism and professional jealousy.

Our heroine is Lydia Smith, a Trap Tangler who has lost her job since a bad experience six months ago (known as her 'Lost Weekend') when she was found in the catacombs after being caught in an illusion trap; most people think that she's lost the plot and is likely to have a breakdown. She's hired by Emmett London, a man who turns out to be a Ghost Hunter, to look for a family heirloom which has gone missing. Unfortunately in searching for the heirloom they find themselves stumbling over bodies and realise there's a lot more to the case than initially thought.

Jayne Castle writes the relationship between Emmett and Lydia very well. Their hunter/tangler disagreements are fun as we see the prejudice that they both hold against the other - and yet at the same time they are attracted to each other. However the romance is definitely a lesser part of the book than the plot and the plot is a good one - it's an interesting tale with twists and turns and some great side characters. There are flaws in this book, of course, including one or two unlikely plot areas, but it's still an enjoyable read. The sequel, "After Glow", looks more into Lydia's Lost Weekend and is equally good.



1 out of 5 stars Another would-be fantasy that's not, really   May 11, 2006
 1 out of 6 found this review helpful

This is another love fluke set in a sci-fi enviroment for the sake of thrill. It would've been better, maybe, if it would've kept to the normal decor...
Humans colonized an alien leftover planet, then were cut off from earth. They managed to survive and develop a sixth sense.
Most of them are ghost-hunters or "tanglers", able to spring psychic traps left in the alien ruins.
Lydia Smith is a tangler who has to find an ancient heirloom of Emmet London's. She's ready for a love affair and he's the right guy , in the right place. Love affair unfolds. Some things happen. Emmet is searching for a missing nephew. Lydia stumbles upon him. Then everything ends happily.
Stupid book, stupid plot.
Not recommended.


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