The Missing [Paperback]

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
Per Publishers Weekly "A sweet love story alternates with an exciting manhunt. Romantic suspense fans will find much to like in Taige, a fearless beauty, half-white, half-black, who's not just another medium clone." I agree. There are other characters with psychic abilities as well. This was a nicely done story with some interesting plot twists and events.

I noticed one reviewer found fault with the story as not being realistic regarding police procedures. That didn't bother me. It's probable that the psychic parts are also not that realistic. As far as I'm concerned, suspending belief is ok. I'm in this for the entertainment and for a fun escape, which it provided.

STORY BRIEF WITH SOME SPOILERS:
Cullen is a rich kid whose family spends summers at their vacation home, located in a gulf coast Alabama tourist town. Taige's parents died when she was young. She lives with an abusive uncle. When Taige is 15, Cullen saves her from an attempted rape. They develop a relationship over the next few summers. Cullen knows Taige has psychic abilities. When Taige is 19, Cullen's mother is violently murdered. Cullen is angry and breaks up with Taige. He felt Taige should have known about the murder in advance to help prevent it. He was mad that she never tried to control or develop her abilities. He claimed she passively reacted to them instead of actively used them. Because of Cullen's accusation, Taige then begins to actively use her abilities, develop greater control over them and works with the FBI. Cullen marries Kim who dies giving birth to their daughter Jilly. Several years later Jilly is kidnapped. Cullen hasn't seen Taige for 12 years, but goes to her asking for her help to find Jilly.

DATA:
Story length: 311 pages. Sexual language: strong. Number of sex scenes: 8. Total number of sex scene pages: 28. Setting: current day gulf coast tourist town in Alabama and a few other places in the U.S. Copyright: 2008. Genre: paranormal romantic suspense.

OTHER BOOKS:
To date, I've read the following Shiloh Walker books.

Novels:
4 stars. The Missing. Copyrt 2008. Review Date 11/12/08.
2 stars. Touch of Gypsy Fire. Copyrt 2004. No review posted.

Anthologies:
5 stars. Ghost of a Chance (in anthology Ellora's Cavemen: Tales From The Temple IV). Copyrt 2004. Review Date 4/02/08.
4 stars. The Blood Kiss (in anthology Hot Spell). Copyrt 2005. My 5 star review for the anthology was posted 5/11/08.
1 star. His Christmas Cara (in anthology All She Wants: Ellora's Cave). Copyrt 2004. My 4 star review for the anthology was posted 4/02/08.

Taige Branch was blessed, or maybe cursed, with the special gift of vision. She certainly doesn't feel special though and has had more than her fair share of pain - emotional and physical. Losing both parents and being sent to live with her fire and brimstone preacher of an uncle, she was constantly berated and regularly beaten because of the "evil" that supposedly had taken residence in her young body. Despite all of this, Taige uses her gift to the best of her ability, saving more than one person from certain death and then suffering the physically ravaging consequences in private after. When a wealthy boy's family buys a vacation home in the Alabama gulf where Taige lives, the teens are instantly attracted and it isn't long before he witnesses her gift first-hand. Unfortunately, she is unable to predict Cullen's mother's violent death, only to be blamed by him and cast aside.

Taige and Cullen may have been separated for several years but they never forgot each other. When Cullen's young daughter is kidnapped, Taige is the first person the single father turns to for help. Now officially working with the FBI to find missing children, Taige's abilities are maximized to the fullest. Cullen's daughter is found, but in doing so, Taige discovers and connects with a multitude of other murdered children who have been missing for decades. Cullen soon realizes that his daughter has the same gift as Taige, as did the children whose remains were recently discovered. He knows that in order for his daughter to ever have true peace in her life he will have to work with Taige in finding the man whose evil is responsible for the sheer hell these children endured. They won't have to look far though because he has Taige in his sights and he's bent on total destruction.

Shiloh Walker has outdone herself with this book. It's dark, sensual and suspenseful, but most of all it's chock full of excellently written emotion and turmoil. Taige and Cullen are damaged souls, and while their backgrounds couldn't have been more different, their hearts and their love for each other are very much the same. They both regret what could have been for their relationship all those years ago, but celebrate what the future may hold for them. I personally feel that this just might be Shiloh Walker's best work to date and I highly recommend it.

I had misgivings from the start, just based on the plot but the book had so many positive reviews that I decided to give it a try. Without giving away any spoilers, here's the plot: The hero abandons the heroine. He has a child with another woman while the heroine lives a life of relentless misery. The two meet up again after eight years apart when the hero needs the heroine's help to rescue his daughter.

I found it unbelievably sad and depressing that the heroine did not experience a moment of joy and happiness for almost an entire decade. I don't know who I was more angry with -- the hero for abandoning her or the heroine for being such a martyr. Or myself for reading the book, despite all the warning signs.

I will try another one of Shiloh Walker's books, but only if the plot doesn't raise any red flags. I hope she doesn't torture all her heroines like this, it was very painful to read.