Visions of Heat - Nalini Singh

Visions of Heat
Nalini Singh
Berkley Sensation

Paranormal Romance

NOTE: This is the second in a series that began with SLAVE TO SENSATION. If you haven’t read the first book, this review contains spoilers.

Nearly one hundred years ago, the Psy race instituted the Silence Protocol in order to train all traces of emotions from their ranks. They believe they have succeeded. But recent events prove otherwise.

Shortly after the events of the first book, changeling sentinel Vaughn, the lone jaguar changeling in the DarkRiver leopard Pack, is out running when he discovers something strange. The home of a Psy, isolated not only from other Psy, but also from all civilization. Adding to the oddness is the fact that the house is surrounded by gated fences and patrolled by guards. Sascha Duncan, a recently-defected Psy and now mated to the Pack alpha, realizes that this must be the home of an F-Psy. The F designation means foreseer; and the Fs are the most sought-after and valuable assets in the Psy world. They forecast stock prices and business trends, allowing their families to become wealthy and powerful.

The resident of the house, Faith, has lived there, alone, all her life. She lives to make predictions for the businesses that pay her family. All of her training tells her that isolation is necessary to prevent insanity, but boredom and restlessness drive her outside the compound and into the surrounding forest. She knows that she’s on DarkRiver lands, and figures that one of the Pack will stop her. What that happens, she’ll ask to talk to Sascha. That meeting, with Sascha and with Vaughn, will change her world forever.

It’s not only her external world that’s changing. There’s a killer stalking Psy women. Faith was plagued with dreams of suffocating, only to learn that the killer strangled her sister, a woman she barely knew. Now, somehow, the killer has established a link with her, and delights in showing her what has happened and what will happen. This sort of connection is not supposed to be possible. Then again, the connection between changeling and Psy shouldn’t be possible, either.

For the most part, this is an excellent follow-up to SLAVE TO SENSATION. My one quibble is the character of Vaughn throughout much of the book. There’s a thin line, even in romance novels, between being alpha and forcing yourself on someone; and, for me, Vaughn crosses that line often enough to be fairly distasteful. Overlooking that, the storyline is quite good, and we’re allowed to delve deeper into the PsyNet and the workings of the Council. It’s clear that there’s plenty of story left to tell, and I’m looking forward to it.

Rating: 7
March 2007
ISBN# 978-0-425-21575-3 (paperback)