Starlight Book Review – Kay Hooper’s Curse of Salem

Cover of Curse of Salem by Kay Hooper centered on a deep violet hued background with Starry Night Elf avatar in lower right hand corner | Cover Image Source: Goodreads

Trigger Warning – violence

4.5/5 I always look forward to books about Kay Hooper’s Bishop/Special Crimes Unit and other group, Haven. In fact, I think I picked up my first Bishop/Special Crimes Unit book during a summer break from college. The Bishop/Special Crimes Unit series holds a distinction of being books I’ve not necessarily read in numerical order. When I saw Curse of Salem, Bishop/Special Crimes Unit #20, hit shelves last December, I sought ways to read it either between Stellar Reading Challenges (SRC) or for an SRC. Fast forward to October 2022, I grabbed a digital copy of Curse of Salem from my library and quickly read it ostensibly for an SRC. Alas, I already accomplished that entry earlier in the year. All things considered, though, I decided I wanted to post a Starlight Book Review (SBR) on Curse of Salem.

“New York Times bestselling author Kay Hooper is back with the next thrilling paranormal suspense novel in the Bishop/Special Crimes Unit series.… The small town of Salem has been quiet for months–or so Bishop and his elite Special Crimes Unit believe. But then Hollis Templeton and Diana Hayes receive a warning in Diana’s eerie “gray time” between the world of the living and the realm of the dead that a twisted killer is stalking Salem, bent on destroying in the most bloody and horrifying way possible the five families that founded the town… The stakes are high, especially for new friends Nellie Cavendish and Finn Deverell, both members of the Five, and this time Bishop and his wife Miranda will lead the team to hunt down a vicious killer and uncover a dark and ancient curse haunting Salem.”

I practically gobbled up Curse of Salem as I often do with Hooper’s books. I probably slammed hard into the back cover of this twentieth installment of the series. As I hadn’t glimpsed some of the characters in this book in a while, I often consulted Hooper’s “Character Bios” section towards the back. She also provided a glossary of various extra sensory perception (ESP) and a chronology of books. Without these aids, I recommend readers start from the stellar beginning with Hooper’s Stealing Shadows. Also, I must mention that some of the violence can be completely jarring. Maybe Stealing Shadows will make be in a future SBR.

Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.