Deadly Harvest

The New England post-Halloween atmosphere is beautiful. Too bad the entire cast of characters is insufferable and the ending feels like an ass-pull. I gave up about halfway through, and I'm usually doggedly determined to finish a book.

Very interesting book and the storyline as usual follows the same pattern of Heather Graham’s imaginative. The second of the Flynn brothers known as Jeremy Flynn had a program with a remarkable young lady and he knows he wanted her in the most usual way. But he was avoiding her at all cause for the fee weeks they have worked together. Now it is the last day and she will be leaving for home back to New England. During this time Jeremy got a phone call from his friend to come to New England to help him find his wife. Who has been kidnapped during their vacation to rebuilding their relationship.

Kendall Montgomery Flynn from the first novel. Kendall and the oldest brother Aidan Flynn are now married and live at the family house outside New Orleans. Rowenna is returning to her home town of Salem, Massachusetts at the behest of a police office friend of hers. Rowenna has helped the police in the past as she seems to be able to put herself in a victim's place and feel what they felt. Jeremy Flynn, an ex-police officer, has been asked by his friend and ex-partner to come help him find his wife who disappeared from a cemetery in Salem. As Jeremy and Rowenna follow clues and dreams their own way, something more sinister is happening in the town of Salem and almost everyone is a suspect.

"Deadly Harvest" is an easy read with a hint on the supernatural with plenty of
romance.

Jeremy Flynn was quite nice in the first book of the Flynn brothers trilogy, Deadly Night. He's the romantic lead in Deadly Harvest, which means he gets to be a bit of a jerk toward the heroine, Rowena Cavanaugh.

Rowena Cavanaugh is beautiful and well educated, an author with an open mind about the paranormal except for her own psychic abilities. She thinks she's just logically imagining what happened to victims when she tries to 'put herself in their shoes'. Rowena is attracted to Jeremy, but thinks he doesn't like her.

Oh, Jeremy is attracted to her, too, but he's firmly against that paranormal nonsense, although he adores his sister-in-law, Kendall, who used to read Tarot cards, palms, & tea leaves. (If Jeremy is correct about not having a psychic bone in his body, how come he keeps seeing the ghost of a boy he tried to save?)

The action for our leads moves from New Orleans to Rowena's hometown, Salem, Massachusetts. The prologue took place there, covering the disappearance of Mary Johnstone, wife of Jeremy's friend and former partner, Brad.

Poor Brad is suspected of having caused Mary's disappearance. Even her parents think she's dead and he killed her. Brad is convinced Mary is still alive, but fears she won't be anymore by the time she's found. He's also convinced the Devil is in Salem and a mysterious fortuneteller named Damien is the kidnapper. (There's evidence there really was a Damien at the psychic fair in the prologue, even if he hasn't been seen since. I'm sure you can guess Jeremy's reaction to Brad's talk about the Devil.)

Ms. Graham has given Salem a new legend, that of the Harvest Man, who is supposed to have kidnapped and killed women for a couple of centuries now.
Rowena suspects that an individual is making use of that legend, possibly even believing himself to be the Harvest Man.

There are wax figures of four murderers in the [fictional] Eastern Massachusetts Museum of History, where Rowena's friend Daniel is the manager. Numbers one and four seem to have claimed they were the devil. I enjoyed the chapters where Rowena and Daniel researched the legend.

Rowena has been elected this year's Harvest Queen. Salem's officials aren't going to cancel their festival. After all, they think they have their perpetrator in custody. If they're wrong, will Rowena be the next victim?

The killer came as no surprise, but there was a twist I didn't expect. While I didn't like book two as much as book one, it had its moments.

Notes:

See chapter 1 for the Harvest Man chant.

See chapters 2 and 3 for what Aidan and Kendall Flynn have been up to since book one.

In chapter 8 Rowena said Detective Brentwood also believes in justice, along with truth and the American way and all that. I suspect that Ms. Graham also grew up watching reruns of the 1952-1958 live-action TV series, 'Adventures of Superman'. The opening did declare that [disguised as Clark Kent], he fought a never ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way.

See chapter 9 for some Salem history as well as the Harvest Man legend. (There's more about a 20th century killer who apparently thought he was the Harvest Man in chapters 15 & 16.)

Had to smile when Rowena asked if [Thanksgiving] is as American as apple pie in chapter 12. Apple pie definitely came from Europe, although we might be able to claim the invention of chocolate cake.

I'm afraid of one the supporting characters uses a 3-letter slur for homosexuals in chapter 13.

Great book, love how Heather Graham gets these paranormal stories to flow so well

[edit] review
I could not finish this book, and that is something I generally avoid doing. I found the romance to be forced and stilted. The characters are not a...moreI could not finish this book, and that is something I generally avoid doing. I found the romance to be forced and stilted. The characters are not at all engaging. Graham uses a (successful) formula, so I knew what to expect with the plot. Fans of Graham should pick up another of her books if that is what you are looking for and avoid this book. I enjoyed the first book in this series and suggest reading that as a standalone.

After reading the prologue and the summary on the back, I was sure that I would love this book, but I was wrong. It was incredibly boring and tedious to read. I never felt connected to the characters of Rowenna or Jeremy at all, and I found myself speed reading through this book just so that I could be done with it.

The 2nd book that I am reviewing is Deadly Harvest by Heather Graham and is the second book in the Flynn brothers trilogy. In Deadly Harvest, Jeremy (another Flynn brother) is trying to help his good friend find his missing wife with the help of a possible pyschic named Rowenna. This was the perfect read for me right now as it was set in the fall and talked about the cooler weather and the leaves changing. Plus, it had the scary legend of the Harvest Man who was thought to be a killer coming back to life again and again. I also liked that it was set in Salem so there were references to the witch trials and other historical aspects of that area. The story for me had a really great set-up and an interesting mystery to go along with it. Unfortunately at times it seemed like it needed a good editor and didn't always flow as well as I would have liked. That isn't to say that I didn't enjoy because I really did. Once again though, I just didn't love it although I wanted to :)

This is the second book of three in the Flynn Brothers Trilogy by Heather Graham. The first book, Deadly Night, had more paranormal to it than the second, but Deadly Harvest was just as interesting. The plot was captivating and at times just plain frightening. Overall, a great weekend read, and I am looking forward to reading the last book in this series, Deadly Gift. By far, Heather Graham is of one my new favorite authors.

Jeremy Flynn is in Salem, Massachusetts trying to help an old friend, Brad, find his wife, Mary, who has disappeared. He is joined in his search by Rowenna Cavannaugh, a native of Salem who occasionally aids local law enforcement with her psychic visions. Although Jeremy doesn't believe in Rowenna's visions, he is strongly attracted to her, and together they work to unravel the legend of the "Harvest Man", a serial killer who has visited Salem before and may have something to do with Mary's death.

This is the second of the Flyyn brothers trilogy. The characters are likable and the plot is suspenseful. Graham throws in lots of red herrings in this one and in parts it is truly frightening, but it seems to come together at the end too easily. It's a fast, entertaining and scary read...a great vacation book.