In TWISTED, Jay Bonansinga brings back FBI profiler Ulysses Grove, having just survived 2005’s FROZEN, which had him tracking a serial killer with a prehistoric M.O. and unwittingly getting possessed. Now a demon-purged Ulysses is brought to a post-Katrina New Orleans for the funeral of an old friend, a gay college professor. During the service, Grove’s always-working mind notes the corpse is missing an eye, leading our copper to assume the man was murdered.

He’s right, of course, and then some: The killer, a cloaked figure referred to as the Holy Ghost, has a penchant for offing citizens during ferocious storms and popping out one of their eyes. Once Grove figures this out, a massive hurricane is about to hit Louisiana all over again, so he’s prepared to travel into the eye of the hurricane to keep the Holy Ghost from taking more lives.

TWISTED actually has more in common with FROZEN than a first glance suggests, as threads are carried over along with characters. It could be argued that Grove’s love interest – reporter Maura County – plays an equal role this time, especially since Grove spends way too many pages driving around New Orleans, looking for street signs and parking places – activities that don’t exactly make for nail-biting scenarios.

All things considered, TWISTED is FROZEN’s inferior little brother, for two main reasons. First, though the supernatural again comes into heavy play, the plot is more conventional initially, so it lacks that hook – say, a 6,000-year-old mummy –  that made its predecessor instantly engrossing. You will get into it, but it takes a little time. Second – and this is just personal preference – the New Orleans setting. No offense to the city; it’s just a culture that doesn’t click with me, so I found it off-putting.

Those criticisms aside, I still enjoyed the novel. Grove is an interesting character, and it’s nice to see a heroic African-American for a change. Clearly, Bonansinga created him with hopes of a franchise, and I hope that continues. Without such big shoes to fill before it, TWISTED might have been more of a rush than a buzz. –Rod Lott

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OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• FROZEN by Jay Bonansinga