HINDSIGHT

A detective with extra sensory perception teams up with a psychic to solve a gruesome murder in this genre-bending thriller.

In County’s (Plastic Soldiers, 2020, etc.) suspenseful supernatural crime story, Nathan Ember finds out there are pros and cons to being hit by lightning: For one, he has the ability to see clearly into the recent past. His “gift” doesn’t give him “X-ray vision or super hearing. It’s more like two movies of the same place, superimposed and twenty-four hours apart.” This kind of “double” vision cost him his job as an air traffic controller, but it allows him to eke out a living as a budding detective. When he hears that a body was pitched into a dumpster and set on fire the night before, he revisits the past scene and sees a headless, handless body being discarded and torched by a man with a maniacal laugh. He also sees the number of the man’s license plate, which he gives to a friend, Detective Sgt. Daniel Ballinger. But Nathan learns that psychic Galena Torres, who has hypnotic brown eyes and “grab-me curves,” had already given Ballinger the same intel. Initially, Nathan has a hard time believing Galena’s powers are real; but once he’s convinced they’re genuine, the two team up to find out who the dead man is and who murdered him. The novel’s crime-solving is engaging, and the progression of Nathan and Galena’s relationship is engaging, but the real treat is the author’s clever blending of past and present. Nathan must try to avoid being in the same place at the same time two days in a row so he won’t be confused when his two selves overlap and his senses become overwhelmed. Overall, the pacing is rapid-fire and the narrative jam-packed with surprises. Other bonuses include a rich mix of ethnicities and ages, plus a really creepy killer. Dialogue is sharp, and even biting when Galena meets Nathan’s tall, blond, bejeweled former wife Anita, who “has a thing about money. It’s called greed.”

An imaginative and offbeat blend of psychological intrigue, murder, and romance.