Alyana Williams – Dark Oracle

The first book in the Dark Oracle series, published May 25, 2010.
Genre: paranormal romantic suspense



Tara Sheridan has a gift … and it almost killed her.
As a criminal profiler, Tara used science and her intuitive skill at Tarot card divination to track down the dangerous and depraved, including the serial killer who left her scarred from head to toe. Since that savage attack, Tara has been a recluse. But now an ancient secret society known as Delphi's Daughters has asked for her help in locating missing scientist Lowell Magnusson. And Tara, armed with her Tarot deck, her .38, and a stack of misgivings, agrees to try.
Tara immediately senses there is far more at stake than one man's life. At his government lab in the New Mexico desert, Magnusson had developed groundbreaking technology with terrifying potential. Working alongside the brusque but charismatic agent Harry Li, Tara discovers that Magnusson's daughter, Cassie, has knowledge that makes her a target too. The more Tara sees into the future, the more there is to fear. She knows she has to protect Cassie. But there may be no way to protect herself - from the enemies circling around her, or from the long-buried powers stirring to life within. . . .


Well, I guess the blurb tells most of the story this time, as it is fairly accurate. I read a review about this book on one of the blogs I follow, and new I had to read it. I have always had some interest in tarot cards, so to have them used in a book piqued my curiosity.
Unfortunately, I have had a hard time getting past the half way mark in this book. I just could not get connected to the main characters, and why Harry and Tara fell in love, I still have no idea. Tara is scarred, inside and out, after being almost buried alive and sliced to ribbons by a serial killer she was profiling. She is not a people’s person anymore and there is little to no info on Harry’s background at all, except old Martin who raised him after his mother died.

A missing scientist, a destroyed laboratory, dangerous research done for the militairy. Too much things I did not understand about Dark matter, black holes and such, though it was kind of explained. But if I do not understand such things, I really cannot enjoy it. The tarot cards did play an important role in the book, and I enjoyed the explanations given to each card that Tara drew. But in the end, it is all interpretation of the person who reads them, there are no clear answers or signs.

The secondary characters did little to endear me to them either. And the bad guys, well, they are really bad.

I do have the second book in this series, but I don’t think I’ll be reading it any time soon. To be honest, I am disappointed in this book. Too little to like, too strange a story.

6 stars

© 2012 Reviews by Aurian