Review: All the Colors of Night by Jayne Ann Krentz

All the Colors of Night (Fogg Lake, Book #2)

by Jayne Ann Krentz

Release Date: January 5th 

2021 Berkley

Kindle Edition; 304 Pages

ISBN: 978-1984806819

ASIN: B086SFSGWH

Genre: Fiction / Paranormal

Source: Review copy from publisher

2.5 / 5 Stars

Summary

North Chastain possesses a paranormal talent that gives him the ability to track down the most dangerous psychic criminals. When his father suddenly falls into a coma, North is convinced it was caused by a deadly artifact traced back to the days of a secret government laboratory known only as the Bluestone Project. North knows his only hope of saving his father is to find the artifact. He is good when it comes to tracking down killers but to locate the relic, he's going to need help from a psychic who knows the shadowy world of obsessive collectors, deceptive dealers, and ruthless raiders…

With her reputation in ruins after a false accusation, antique expert Sierra Raines is looking for a fresh start. She turns to the murky backwaters of the paranormal artifacts trade, finding and transporting valuable objects with a psychic provenance. When North Chastain approaches her for help, Sierra takes him on as a client, though not without reservations. North represents the mysterious Foundation, the secretive organization established to police the underworld populated by psychic criminals and those, like Sierra, who make a living in the shadows of that world.

North and Sierra soon find themselves at the scene of The Incident that occurred decades ago in Fogg Lake. The town and its residents were forever changed by the disaster in the nearby Bluestone Project labs. The pair unearth shocking truths about what happened that fateful night, but they are playing with fire—someone in town knows what they’ve discovered and will do anything to make sure the secrets stay buried.

 

My Thoughts

All the Colors of Night is the second book in the Fogg Lake series, and though I didn't read the first book, it wasn't hard to figure out what was happening or to catch up on the characters and their situations.  Why? Because it was extremely predictable.  I have been a long time fan of this author, but this book is definitely not one of my favourites as the plot seemed to be a mishmash of previous plots, the characters were okay, and it was so predictable, I was able to pinpoint what was going to happen early on in the book.  What made me finish the book? Because it was a Jayne Ann Krentz book, of course. 

 

Is this book worth reading? I gave it the rating I did simply because overall the story is somewhat entertaining, and if you have never read a book by this author, you would have no idea how similar it is to previous books in her collection.  It does have all of the author's trademark paranormal tropes including a hero who does not let down his guard, a heroine who is gutsy and doesn't take any crap, a father who was attacked and is slowly dying but no one understands why, a secret weapon, plenty of paranormal stuff happening that naturally requires teamwork to solve, and secret societies who are searching for said secret weapon. And all of that requires some romantic suspense, naturally.  Done.  I feel like these books have turned into the Heather Graham books where you know exactly what is going to happen as they have become predictable, with nothing new added in to spice it up.  

For me, I really felt like the author focused so much on developing the story that the character development kind of fell to the wayside.  I wasn't overly empathetic to either of these characters, not particularly caring what happened to either of them.  It wasn't that they weren't likeable, I just didn't feel the chemistry between them.  And the visit to Fogg Lake seemed really contrived; there is only so much belief you can suspend before you go, Nope, I'm done. 

 

Verdict

All the Colors of Night was a predictable read, and for the first time in a long time, I felt like the plot was one of the weakest aspects of this book as so much time and effort was spent explaining the paranormal elements rather than letting the reader figure things out as they went through the book.  The main characters lacked chemistry, and I blame that on the muddled mess of a plot as it didn't give the characters a chance to shine.   I really think new readers to this author will love this book, but I wonder if long-time readers will have the same reaction I did. This is one I can't really recommend although I do recommend her other paranormal books.