Behind the Walls

February 13, 2012
Jones’s atmospheric second thriller featuring second Iraq War vet Harper Jennings (after 2011’s Summer Session) starts stronger than it finishes. In 1989, Cornell grad student Carla Prentiss is inventorying pre-Columbian artifacts in a professor’s mansion, rumored to be haunted by a 1920s starlet’s ghost, when someone or something fatally attacks her. In 2011, history repeats itself. A killer rips out the heart of Zina Salim, Harper’s fellow Ph.D. candidate and rival within Cornell’s archeology department, who was cataloguing the same professor’s collection. Harper’s husband, Hank, feels guilty, since shortly before, Salim came to the Jenningses for help, fearing that a shape-shifting being known as a Nahual was after her. The author keeps readers off-balance throughout, leaving the question of whether the killings are natural or supernatural unresolved until the end. At the climax, Harper proves less self-reliant than some might wish. Agent: Rebecca Straus, McIntosh and Otis.

March 15, 2012
An archaeology scholar asks whether a mysterious death is a simple murder or a supernatural event. Iraq war vet Harper Jennings has had her share of drama in her life, most recently a strange medical scandal with some of her students at Cornell University. Now things are more settled for Harper, especially since her husband Hank, who fell off their roof while the two were trying to fix up their house, has finally returned home after an extended stay in the hospital. Although he can now talk, Hank's speech is inconsistent, and Harper worries that he may have stopped improving. When Harper's colleague Zina Salim, who has never been on particularly good terms with Harper, shows up at Hank and Harper's place ranting about a Nahual, Harper has no interest in getting involved. After all, she was passed over for the plum job Zina got at the Langston place sorting through pre-Columbian artifacts. Besides, shape-shifters like Nahuals are just folklore. The next day, however, Harper finds Zina's body in the woods with the heart ripped from her chest, and Harper knows she must investigate the murder. It's not clear whether Zina's death is the work of the natural world or something beyond. Hank tries to dissuade Harper from getting involved, but she's determined to find the truth even if it puts her in danger. With Hank growing more distant, Harper knows the only person she can rely on is herself. Or is it? The more straightforward story line raises this entry above Summer Session (2011), though Jones sacrifices a bit of action in the process.

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April 1, 2012

Legend has it that the old professor's house, full of priceless pre-Columbian relics, is haunted. One graduate student died there years ago, and now a second one has been murdered on the grounds. Since both victims had their hearts cut out, the creepy quotient is high. Iraq War vet and Cornell University teaching assistant Harper Jennings is not thrilled when she is asked to help a colleague catalog the artifacts, but she and her husband, brain-injured from a fall, need the income. But wait, there's more: one of the guys from Harper's old Iraq detail shows up talking a mile a minute about a war-related conspiracy. It sounds crazy, but then he ends up dead as well. Just in time, Det. Charlene Rivers makes a reliable complement to Team Jennings; her character is becoming a welcome regular. VERDICT Jones's riveting and twisty plot is as convoluted as the secret passageways of the haunted house in which Harper works. Jones has mastered infusing pace with adrenaline, and her sequel to Summer Session is a one-sitting read. For fans of Michelle Gagnon (for intrigue and pacing) and Lori Armstrong (for female Iraq War veterans).

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2012
Archaeology doctoral student Harper Jennings takes over the job of cataloging a valuable collection of pre-Columbian artifacts when the previous graduate student responsible for the job, Zina Salim, is murdered. Harper finds Zina with her heart cut out the day after she insisted to Harper that she had been chased by a Nahual, a pre-Columbian shape-shifter. Believing that Zina was spooked by the creepy old house in which the collection is housed and that her murder was an honor killing, Harper goes to work against the wishes of her husband, Hank, who is disabled since a fall from the roof of their house. Harper, an Iraqi War veteran who suffers from PTSD, is also being stalked as a result of an incident that occurred during her tour of duty in Iraq. Harper is a strong, sympathetic character, who investigates multiple mysteries while dealing with marital issues related to her husband's aphasia and her need for independence. A fast-paced story, incidentally full of details about pre-Columbian art and times.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)