Review: In Too Deep by Jayne Ann Krentz (Looking Glass #1, Arcane #10)

*******Adult Book*******

Title: In Too Deep by Jayne Ann Krentz

Published: December 28^th, 2010 by Putnam Adult

Source: Purchased

Format: Hardcover

Challenge(s):

Grade rate: B

Jayne Ann Krentz follows up her highly successful Dreamlight Trilogy- written in collaboration with her two alter egos, Amanda Quick and Jayne Castle-with a brand-new story arc that begins in a secluded coastal town in northern California.

Scargill Cove is the perfect place for Fallon Jones, confirmed recluse and investigator of the paranormal. It's a hot spot, a convergence point for unusually strong currents of energy, which might explain why the town attracts misfits and drifters like moths to a flame. Now someone else has been drawn to the Cove-Isabella Valdez, on the run from some very dangerous men.

When she starts work as Fallon's assistant, Isabella impresses him by organizing his pathologically chaotic office-and doesn't bat an eye at the psychic aspect of his job. She's a kindred spirit, a sanctuary from a world that considers his talents a form of madness. But after a routine case unearths an antique clock infused with dark energy, Fallon and Isabella are dragged into the secret history of Scargill Cove and forced to fight for their lives, as they unravel a cutthroat conspiracy with roots in the Jones family business . . . and Isabella's family tree.

My Review

I liked this book much better than Fired Up.  I’ve always had a soft spot for Fallon Jones and I’m happy to read his story.

If you’ve read any of the books from the Arcane society, you know they all have a similar pattern to them.   What I liked most about In Too Deep was the characters and the setting.  Fallon is the head of the Arcane Society’s investigation agency Jones & Jones (J&J) and we’ve seen him before in many of the other books, in person or by phone as he communicates with his many relatives, friends and agents. Fallon is not the easiest person to get along with, his ‘talent’ is to find patterns in seemingly unrelated pieces of information, and family legends indicate that people with that type of talent eventually go mad.  All in all, Fallon is handsome, loyal, smart, and brave.

Isabella is, of course, the perfect match for Fallon.  She is (ironically) a conspiracy theorist and comes from a line of some pretty paranoid group of people.   The important thing is that she trusts Fallon and is very loyal to him and to the agency.  Isabella is a very friendly, organized, no-nonsense kind of woman and she’s fiercely loyal too.   Her talent is to find things and she is also able to temporarily control people’s actions.

One of things that I loved about this In Too Deep is that there are different ‘mysteries’ or conspiracies (as Fallon and Isabella would say) running throughout the story.  Scargill Cove is a very interesting place.  It is a very small community that was originally founded as a misguided commune, and then bonded together with a common goal of protecting a few very peculiar artifacts that they found.  The community has already accepted Fallon as one of them and they immediately take a liking to Isabella (as most people and animals seem to do). 

All in all, a very good installment of the Arcane Society novels.  I wonder if we will ever see the end of Nightshade?