From five years of age when Sherry was blinded in an accident she is left with no memory of her life before the accident and her blindness also comes with a harrowing sideline; that of being able to touch the hand of a dead person and know what happened during their last 18 seconds of life. As a child she learned to hide her gift and as she grew up she kept it to herself, but when she touches the hand a man as he tumbles into her after being killed, her gift is brought into sharp focus with both the police department and the scientific community. The first years were the hardest with all the scoffing and skepticism but as she is vindicated time after time she earns a solid reputation.
She also begins working with Dr. Salix trying to trace the cause of the blindness which is not optical, but cerebral. He has also on occasion used the bodies of those who have donated them for research to try and track the reaction of Sherry’s brain as she reads their last few seconds of life.
Sherry has just started getting her life back after a terrifying murder case some years prior and has found someone new in her life. She is afraid to make any final decisions and while her new man is completing an overseas tour, Sherry decides to take on a case brought to her by the CDC of New Mexico.
They think that they may have a new outbreak of Hantavirus and have found several bodies including that of a young child. As Sherry arrives on the scene, it is becoming more evident that everyone who has come into contact with either of these bodies has also become contaminated and most are in isolation or have already died. Donning a containment suit to protect herself, she holds the hand of the child and sees the beginning of an ignorance gone out of control. The entire child’s family has been in contact with radiation due to the salvaging of a stolen machine waiting to be picked up. The unit holding the radiation had been broken and the beautiful glowing blue color was too much to resist so the older brother started handling it and showing it off. A piece of this equipment had also been found under the tire of the Sheriffs car and was picked up due to the luminescence. Sherry realizes that she has handled it and is now also infected. As she is raced to the hospital and into quarantine she receives the
Prussian blue that helps to clean the radiation from her system. She is released several weeks later with the understanding that she will need to undergo testing after a three month period to see if they were in time or if she would indeed become cancerous.
As she returns to her home and life waiting for the possible worst news of her life she realizes she must continue regardless of the outcome. For her whole life she has fought against depression and won. She has learned trust her senses as she has honed them to a fine instrument over the years of blindness. Most that see her do not realize she is due to her composure and abilities to sense where things are and if there is danger or worse around her.
To help her regain some control she again goes to Dr Salix, he is able to get a cadaver that she can read in order to continue the research on her abilities. As she reaches out to touch the hand of an elderly gentleman she sees the most unimaginable terror she can imagine. She is drawn in so far she is unable to release, she starts repeating words that make no sense. When Dr. Salix tries to break her trance he can not, she is spiraling away. As a last resort he pulls open her eye lids, her trance is broken by a flash of searing bright light and a hair raising scream.
Fast forward a few days and Sherry is beginning to see bits a pieces, she is convinced it has to do with the dead man. Sherry feels her vision has been triggered by something in the old man she has read and is determined to find his family and return him to them. All of a sudden life becomes complicated and dangerous. People begin dying around Sherry. With the help of her Neighbor Sherry starts finding the terrifying truth behind the body at the morgue and the government secrets of the
cold war era that some one wants to make sure remains dead.
Sherry is a great heroine and her talent is both horrifying and fascinating at the same time. The twists and turns put Sherry in danger at every turn. Still awaiting her tests from her exposure in New Mexico, Sherry soon finds that her has lost her ability to see the last sights of the victims that has been a part of her makeup since the beginning.
George D. Shuman has written a tightly packed and terror ridden novel that is sure to keep you wondering and guessing to the very end. This is a great follow up to his novel
18 Seconds where we are first introduced to Sherry and her distinctive gift. If you love the paranormal and the thrill of the chase you will love these novels.
Rating 4/5
Christine Bennett is understandably mortified and upset when a young woman shows up at her door claiming to be the daughter of her best friend. It is absolutely out of the question for this to be a possibility. So what does she want and what is she looking for? Christine agrees to hear her out and to find out why this young woman has chosen to claim Sister Joseph as her mother. Christine has a special stake in this as she is a former nun at St. Stephen's Parish. As Christine begins to ask questions she also starts to realize that the possibility could exist that the young woman's story could hold some truths. When Christine questions her, she tells Christine that she is afraid, that Sister Joseph is acting differently and she does not know what to do. Sister Joseph has realized that the young woman knows of her parentage and does not want it to get out. Christine ponders this information but before she can decide what she will do the young woman turns up murdered. As the investigator Christine has a dilemma, she is not comfortable prying into her friend past but has no choice. As she follows the twists and turns of this case, can she save Sister Joseph and her reputation. What is the truth and why was sister Joseph in the area on the night in question? Christine is determined to find out the truth.
