Her name notwithstanding, Sylvia Strange is a fairly normal forensic psychologist; here, as in her debut (Dangerous Attachments), it is the world around her that is strange and disturbingly violent. After Sylvia's court testimony helps let sadistic rapist Anthony Randall go free, both she and the defendant pay. Randall is abducted, castrated and torched, and Sylvia is attacked and left a photo of the castrated rapist. Sylvia's lover, Matt England, on the murder case for the New Mexico State Police, is wary of a friend, AWOL FBI agent Dan Chaney, who crops up to convince Sylvia and Matt that the killer is an arms dealer the Bureau claims is dead. By the time a second sexual offender is torched, and it looks like Sylvia may have contributed to the death by overlooking problems with a client during his parole-mandated therapy sessions, Chaney's story sounds pretty good. Toss in Matt's ex-lover, a shaman with "a midnight full-moon healing ceremony" and a psychic who helps save the day, and this becomes a story for those who revel in excess: physical, psychological and spiritual. The path to the solution is convoluted and character-crowded, but Lovett successfully pulls the story's several strands together in the end. (Sept.) FYI: Simultaneous audio publication with the audio ($18, ISBN 0-679-43271-0). (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Forensic psychologist Sylvia Strange (Dangerous Attachments, LJ 5/1/95), testifying for the defense, unwillingly aids in the acquittal of a psychopathic rapist, a fact which becomes a bone of contention between her and her lover, criminal agent Matt England. Upon his release from jail, however, the rapist unwittingly falls victim to a vigilante known as "Killer." Killer taunts Sylvia and Matt with Polaroids of his trussed kills‘escapees from justice due to legal screw-ups‘and stalks them while they attempt to find him. Cadenced prose, psychological insight, taut suspense, and the swift violence of a chilling plot makes this highly recommended. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Lovett offers an exceptional plot, unusual characters, gripping suspense, and vivid forensic details in this offbeat but satisfying story. The nightmare begins for forensic psychologist Sylvia Strange when she is attacked by a terrifying apparition with a mud-smeared face. Then an FBI agent shows her a horrifying film of a man being burned alive, apparently by someone who was supposedly killed months earlier. Then a prison inmate becomes catatonic after claiming to have seen a giant owl of death, and another man is burned alive. Drawn to the terrifying case in spite of her fears, Sylvia investigates with the help of her lover, agent Matt England. Lovett's dark plot is gut wrenching and full of unexpected twists. She uses her New Mexico setting to fine effect, injecting a sense of New Age spirituality that's both calming and eerie. Best of all, though, is the complex and charismatic heroine, who can be as doubt ridden as she is strong and spirited. A potent novel. (Reviewed Sept. 15, 1996)0679435603Emily Melton