Another Review at MyShelf.Com

Dark Aura
#3 Carla Day & Dr. Edward Day series

by Diane O’Hehir



      Deputy Sheriff Carla Day and her father, Professor Edward Day, are both present when Tamina Kerry falls to her death. Tamina had gathered the community of Stanton Falls and the sheriff's department together to make an announcement of imminent importance to the residents concerning the area’s Indigo Children. The meeting was at the Rock, a Stanton Falls tradition similar to the soapbox, where she stood on the ledge to talk to the assemblage. Tamina, a fifteen-year-old Indigo Child, is herself a mother of an Indigo child given into adoption. But Carla was too far in the back of the crowd to see if Tamina tripped or was pushed, and her father... well, Dr. Day doesn't always see things the way others do. In the tangle of Alzheimer’s he sees Tamina as Ta-Ent, a priestess in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

There were some things that were difficult for me to come to grips with. I didn't feel that the "Stanton Millers" believed their own dialogue about the Indigo Children, but maybe that was the point. It felt skeptical and instructional instead of conversational. And the character of Dr. Day is so frustrating! Near the end when the "bad guy" (no peeking!) is revealed, the near-catatonic Dr. Day pops up with an "I saw him over there" moment. I slammed the book shut in disgust. Is the guy sick or not? Does he know anything or not? Does he have Alzheimer’s or—oh yeah, he does. Ms. O’Hehir has captured the roller coaster that is Alzheimer’s disease: the confused geriatric so lucid one moment, lost the next; the weary and worried adult offspring watching the deterioration; sympathetic and loving friends; impatient and rude strangers. Writing at its best is when you get sucked in deep enough to respond emotionally, and I responded to Dr. Day.

This is a complicated story, not a cozy. There are multipart plot lines, an assortment of characters, and embedded throughout are references to the ancient Egyptians and modern-day subcultures. I recommend this one if you are into books that require you to think and if you enjoy esoteric ideas and poetry.

The Book

Berkley
December 4, 2007
Hardcover
0425217531/ 978-0425217535
Mystery / Amateur Sleuth
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Excerpt
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The Reviewer

Beth E. McKenzie
Reviewed 2008
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