Zoe Stoker, a tattoo artist, wants to discover why her father, a respected Army officer, shot and killed several people, then committed suicide 21 years before. She fears that whatever drove her father crazy is affecting her as well, for her intrinsic telekinesis causes items to fly through the air when she gets upset. Helping her is CIA agent Cyrus Diamond, who warns Zoe she’s in danger. The next day, Zoe reads about Cyrus’ death in the paper and then is attacked. She escapes to Key West, only to be followed and assaulted again. During that attack, another man suddenly appears in the dark, his shape shifting into that of a panther who kills her attacker before he morphs back into Cheveyo Kee, a Native American. He offers to take her to Baltimore, to safety and others like her: the Offspring. Once there, she realizes that staying with the other Offspring is her only hope of survival.

Rand Brandenburg is an Offspring as well, one who once lived by gambling and winning. Unfortunately, his abilities drew the attention of Darkwell, the man who is hunting the Offspring. When Zoe meets Rand, she feels an immediate spark, but fears letting him—or a nyone—into her heart.

Zoe learns from the group that Darkwell hired three CIA agents to track down the Offspring, and that several of them have already been killed. Zoe and the other Offspring want to find Darkwell’s aide, Robbins, to learn more about their parents’ deaths, their own varied powers and, most of all, why an enemy wants them dead.

Out of the Darkness grabbed me from the first page and kept me reading well into the night. The suspense is powerful, the characters believable, and the plot terrific. I especially enjoyed the developing relationship between Zoe and Rand, and the secondary characters all add a wonderful dimension to this excellent romantic fantasy thriller. Although this is the second book in the series, Out of the Darkness stands alone as a great read and an outstanding, edge-of-your-seat thriller. You can believe I’ll be reading more of Jaime Rush, a wonderful author who is now on my must read list.