Stealing Shadows (Bishop Special Crimes Unit Series #1)

by Kay Hooper

Overview

What if you can enter a madman's cruel mind as he plans his vicious crimes? What if you can see the terrified face of his prey as he moves in for the kill—but you can't stop his frenzy once he strikes?

Psychic Cassie Neill helps the L.A. police catch killers—until she makes a terrible mistake and an innocent child dies. Cassie flees to a small North Carolina town, hoping that a quiet life will silence the voices that invade her unwilling mind. But Cassie's abilities know few boundaries. And she's become certain—as no one else can be—that a murderer is stalking Ryan's Bluff.

It's his fury that Cassie senses first, then his foul thoughts and perverse excitement. Yet she doesn't know who he is or where he will strike. The sheriff won't even listen to her—until the first body is found exactly where and how she predicted. Now a suspect herself, she races desperately to unmask the killer in the only way she knows: by entering his twisted mind. Her every step is loaded with fear and uncertainty...because if he senses her within him, he'll trap her there, so deep she'll never find her way out.

In Stealing Shadows, Kay Hooper introduces FBI agent Noah Bishop, whose rare gift for seeing what others do not helps him solve the most puzzling cases. Now, Bishop's adventures continue in two new electrifying tales of psychic suspense.

Beware of what you see. It's dawn when the police arrive at the murder scene. The victim is propped against a tree, her eyes still open, her head tilted, her lips parted in a silent cry. Just as Cassie Neill predicted. Just as she saw while she was inside the killer's mind. The killer knew she was there. And next time he won't let her get away.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780553575538
Publisher:	Random House Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/28/2000
Series:	Bishop Special Crimes Unit Series , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	78,396
Product dimensions:	4.13(w) x 6.88(h) x 1.04(d)

About the Author

Kay Hooper, who has more than thirteen million copies of her books in print worldwide, has won numerous awards and high praise for her novels. She lives in North Carolina.

Read an Excerpt

"Do you believe in the paranormal?"

That was unexpected and threw him for a moment. "The paranormal? You mean ghosts? UFOs? ESP?"

"Specifically extrasensory perception. Telepathy. Precognition." Her voice remained calm but she was sitting just a bit too stiffly and her clasped fingers moved nervously. She darted another glance at him, so fleeting that all he caught was a flash of those pale eyes.

Ben shrugged. "In theory I always thought it was just garbage. In fact, I've never encountered anything to make me change my mind." It was the fairly cynical mind common to many law enforcement officials, but he didn't add that.

She didn't look discouraged. "Are you willing to admit the possibility? To keep your mind open?"

"I hope I'm always willing to do that." Ben could have told her that he himself was give to hunches, to intuitions he found difficult to explain rationally, but he said nothing since it was a characterisitc that he hardly trusted. By training and inclination he was a man of reason.

Still utterly matter-of-fact, Cassie said, "There's going to be a murder."

She had surprised him again, unpleasantly this time. "I see. And you know that because you're psychic?"

She grimaced, registering the disbelief—and the suspicion of a prosecutor—in his voice. "Yes."

"You can see the future?"

"No. But I ... tapped into the mind of the man who intends to commit a murder."

"Even assuming that, intentions don't always translate into actions."

"This time they will. He will kill."

Ben rubbed the back of his neck as he stared at her. Maybe she was a kook. Or maybe not. "Okay. Who's going to be murdered?"

"I don't know. I saw her face when he watched her, but I don't know who she is."

Ben frowned. "When he watched her?"

She hesitated, her thin face tightening. Then she said, "I was .. in his mind for only a few seconds. Seeing with his eyes, listening to his thoughts. He's been watching her and he's decided to kill her. Soon."

"Who is he?"

"I don't know."

"Wait a minute, you claim you were inside the guy's head, but you don't know who he is?"

"No." She answered patiently, as though to an oft-repeated question. "Identity isn't a conscious thought most of the time. He knows who he is, so it wasn't something he was thinking about. And I didn't see any part of him, not his hands, or his clothing—or his reflection in a mirror. I don't know who he is. I don't knwo what he looks like."

"But you know he's going to kill someone. A woman."

"Yes."

Ben drew a breath. "Why didn't you go to the sheriff?"

"I did, last week. He didn't believe me."

"Which is why you came to me."

"Yes."

Ben picked up a pen and turned it in his fingers. "What do you expect me to do about it?"

"Believe me," she answered simply. For the first time she looked squarely at him.

Ben felt as if she had reached across the desk and placed her hand on him. It was a warm hand.

He drew a breath, holding her gaze with his own. "And assuming I can bring myself to do that? Is there anything you can tell me that might stop this murder from taking place?"

"No. Not ... yet." She shook her head, unblinking."I may see more. I may not. The fact that I connected to him without holding something that he touched, without knowing him, is unusual. It must have been the ... intensity of his thoughts and plans, his eagerness that reached out to me. Maybe I did touch something he had touched without knowing it. Or maybe he was pysically nearby, and that's why I was able to steal the shadows—" She broke off abruptly and looked down once more.

He missed that warm hand. It was another surprise.

"Steal the shadows?"

Reluctantly Cassie said,"It's what I call it when I am able to slip into a killer's mind and pick up bits and pieces of what he's thinking, planning. Their minds tend to be dark .. filled with shadows." Her fingers were really working now, their nervous energy in stark contrast to her calm face and voice

"You've done this before?"

She nodded.

Table of Contents

Editorial Reviews

"Kay Hooper keeps me guessing until the very end."—Linda Howard

From the Publisher

Stealing Shadows is the first book in a "Thrillogy" which will feature three back-to-back suspense novels by the awesome Ms. Hooper. If Stealing Shadows is any indication, readers are in for a terrific thrill ride.
— Romantic Times

Jill M. Smith

Rice (Follow the Stars Home; Dream Country) brings her signature sensitivity to this beautifully textured summertime read. Famed artist Hugh Renwick is an adulterous alcoholic who is touched by genius. Long after his death, his wife and three daughters struggle with his oversized legacy and the damage left in his wake. Skye, the youngest, drinks to numb the pain of an abusive marriage and to squelch the memories of a past mistake on a hunting trip with her father, she accidentally shot a man. Meanwhile, the eldest sister, Caroline, hides her vulnerability behind a shell of brittle competence. The family's delicate balance shifts forever when treasure salvager Joe Connor arranges a dive in the waters near their home. Linked to the Renwicks by a tragedy that occurred when he was just a child, Joe helps Skye get sober, melts the ice in Caroline's heart and heals his own scars in the process. As always, Rice excels at evoking the strong but contradictory emotions that both bind and divide families. In her capable hands, what could have been a superficial glitz-and-glamour story of affluence, death and fame rings with truth and warmth. With its crisp New England ambiance and delicate prose, her latest is a lovely celebration of sisterhood, summer and survival. (May 29) Forecast: Firefly Beach will be immediately followed by Bantam's hardcover release of Rice's Summer Light in a marketing campaign tied to the first day of summer, June 21. The tandem publication will provide Rice fans with plenty of beach reading, and the extra advertising support may bring this talented writer the wider visibility she deserves. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Telepath Cassie Neil knows the potential cost of helping the police catch the monsters butchering and killing innocent people. She realizes she risks her mind and her soul every time she goes into the mind of these beasts. A soul weary Cassie has entered the brains of too many malevolent beings. She quits the deadly game and moves to quiet Ryan's Bluff, North Carolina. Cassie finds some peace and tranquility for the first time since she first hunted psychopaths. However, her rest and relaxation abruptly ends when a local resident relishes his first kill. Cassie taps inside the twisted pervert's mind and learns he will turn into a killing machine unless stopped. After the town sheriff rebuffs her appeal, Cassie asks Judge Ben Ryan for help. He believes her, especially when the killings start. Together they seek a homicidal murderer terrorizing the community. Kay Hooper's books always contain a special spark so that her current powerful and fascinating tale will not surprise anyone. The para-psychic heroine comes across as vulnerable, leading to readers feeling very sympathetic towards her demons. The story line takes an unexpected twist, especially in the climax. Stealing Shadows steals the hearts of its audience as few novels can.
—Internet Book Watch

Internet Book Watch