The Tunnel-S.D. Tooley

The Tunnel S.D. Tooley Full Moon Publishing, Dec 1 2013, $26.00 http://fullmoonpub.com/ ISBN: 9780988868335 Several months have passed since Chasen Heights Police Detective Jake Casey died in an explosion. His wife Sam barely functions as she struggles with her grief though she tries her best with their toddler Dillon. She no longer uses her gift to assist the cops on cases by communicating with the dead or touching objects the killer held; nor does she go anywhere with her persistent BFF Jackie. Since his mom died, six-year-old Nemo lives alone in an abandoned building. He ignores his late mom’s warning to never enter the tunnels in the sub-basement. There he encounters a severely abused drugged man locked up like a dangerous convict. The lad brings fresh food and water to the prisoner. When Nemo takes fruit from Sam’s mom Abby, her friend Alex Red Cloud pursues the child observing his hideaway. Alex enters the building and finds Nemo’s mom dead. He anonymously calls the cops who identify her as addict Coralee Adams shot dead by Jake’s gun. Feeling a purpose, Sam sets out to learn what happened to her beloved spouse in his final hours when he went for coffee after losing the coin flip to his partner only instead of returning to the precinct he journeyed alone into death. This Sam Casey paranormal investigative tale is a fresh entry due to the despairing protagonist behaving hopelessly rather than her usual competent self (see Restless Spirit and When The Dead Speak) as her grief overwhelms her in spite of the efforts from caring family and friends. Although a nepotistic appointed cop adds humorous realism, he feels like a distraction from what we readers (and the heroine) want to know: what happened to Jake and why. Harriet Klausner