The only other Jane Perry story that I've read was a novella that was a pretty straight-forward police procedural. This is a little different.

Jane Perry is a Denver homicide detective, who has had great professional success but a very rough personal life. She's recently met a man she's really connected with for the first time, and has kicked the alcohol and cigarettes that have had too much control of her life.

And she's discovered she has an older half sister, born and given up before her mother made the mistake of marrying Jane's father.

Knowing starts with Jane leaving on a road trip to go meet her half sister in New Mexico, where she's currently living in halfway house.

It's not long before her plans have been completely blown up. Her car gets stolen when she stops for gas at a Quik-Mart. When she gets on a bus to continue her trip, she meets a young prostitute who has a very alarming story about what really happened in the case, currently much in the news, of another prostitute who was murdered and the apparent killer found still in bed with the dead body.

Then she gets off the bus briefly, and it blows up, killing everyone aboard. And her day has only just begun to get weird, alarming, and generally bad.

There are elements of horror here, and of Secret History, as well as just plain edge of your seat suspense. There's the escaped killer who isn't really the killer, and the mysterious red-haired men who turn up in entirely too many places, and a series of numbered postcards with their own mysterious message to share.

Meanwhile, Jane is struggling with her own inability to trust and rely on anyone else, her inability to believe in the love she and Hank have for each other. This isn't just a side issue; it turns out to be critical to her ability to make the right choices in the high-stakes conflict with "the gingers," mysterious men in black who control key levers of power nearly everywhere.

It's a fascinating, engrossing story that demands your involvement while reading it.

Recommended.

DISCLAIMER: What follows is a personal pet peeve.

A relatively minor point: Nanette tells Jane that Gabe liked beer made with pine needles instead of hops, and tells her a fairy tale about pine needle beer having been common until the Middle Ages, when the Church suppressed it. Supposedly, men who drank pine needle beer were too energized and independent, while men who drank hops beer were more submissive and manipulable. This sounded odd to me, so I did a bit of research. Pine needle beer was a Scandinavian creation. It also became popular in Scotland, and remained so until the end of the 19th century. William Bros. brews Alba Scots Pine Ale, and Wigram Brewing Company's Spruce Beer is based on an original brewed by Captain Cook, apparently in an effort to combat scurvy among his crew. None of this is consistent with Nanette's version. It's not all that important, but I get annoyed at the lazy negative stereotyping of Christianity as having crushed Virtuous Paganism.

I received a free electronic galley from the publisher via NetGalley. ( )

Book Info: Genre: Mystery/Police Procedural with paranormal elements
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: Seekers, searchers, those who enjoy a bit of the paranormal with their suspense
Trigger Warnings: murder, carjacking, conspiracy, mass murder, stolen organs, mind control, assassination

My Thoughts: This is actually the fourth book in a series, but I have been assured I'll be able to follow the plot without having read the first three. I would like to read them, because after reading Laurel Dewey's excellent book Betty's (Little Basement) Garden I really like her writing style.

This book is a real mind-bender, that's for sure. The level of conspiracy is almost on par with The Matrix. This delves into some seriously crazy metaphysical ideas that I found quite fascinating. There is also a great deal of philosophical musing that is quite worth reading. A few examples:
“The Opposite of Love is Not Hate. The Opposite of Love is Fear. Be Brave and Choose Love.”

“I will face the darkness, but I will not let it become me. Fear may be present but it will not possess me. I will face the darkness, as the knowing light within my heart and mind leads me home. And once again, I will be free.”

“... people really do take on the grime of their associations and actions. It was impregnated in this guy's cells. It never fails. What we've seen and what we've done washes over us and colors that aura that shadows us.”

“... the people I work for invented the darkness.”

“Forget space exploration. The mind is the next frontier.”

“We have the illusion of choice because no matter what we choose, the game never changes. The wheels always keep moving in the direction that suits the ones who are designing the wheels. If they don't want that wheel to travel somewhere, they make damn sure it's designed to that it doesn't roll there.”

“...that is how the liars remain in control. Through one's silence and fear of alienation, the truth is buried deeper under the soil of fabrication and deceit. Chaos rules because eventually, it's easier to cling to whatever debris is left than to walk into the storm, taste the rain and greet the thunder with your fists balled and your courage lit like a fire that will never be put out.”
*Of course, there was some funny, too. For instance: “It was like having a heart to heart with a squirrel. You want to believe they understand you, but deep down, logical tells you that it's jetting over their heads.”

Normally I don't use quite so many quotes in my reviews, but I just couldn't cut them down. The ideas expressed in this book are fascinating, and terrifying, and mind-boggling. A lot of the gist was things like: “...everything we cling to is really an illusion that's manufactured by people who want to control us.” Or thoughts like this: “The heart of a person's mind can be corrupted, exploited and manipulated in order to gain power for those who don't possess the heightened awareness.”

It's all about finding your strength in your own way, the connections between mind and body, and how modern culture is made to keep us ignorant and passive. As is mentioned, we are so focused on “bread and circuses”—that is, our junk food and our sports—that we don't bother to open our eyes to what is really going on around us. And opening our eyes to what is really going on around us is important. This book was very profound. I highly recommend it.

Series Information: Jane Perry series
Book 1: Protector, on my wishlist
Book 2: Redemption, on my wishlist
Book 3: Revelations, on my wishlist
Novella 1: An Unfinished Death, on my wishlist
Novella 2: Promissory Payback, read and reviewed October 2011, review linked here
Anthology: Unrevealed: Four Jane Perry Stories, on my wishlist
Book 4: Knowing

Disclosure: I received an e-galley from The Story Plant via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: After the life-altering ending in the third Jane Perry thriller, Revelations, Jane Perry takes time off from the job to find the missing part of herself she never knew existed. But her journey is quickly hijacked when a wanted criminal, Harlan Kipple, steals her car. Kipple—accused of the heinous murder of a prostitute in a seedy motel—is on the run and desperate to stay that way. Jane’s personal plans take a backseat as she tracks down her stolen ride and discovers through an unusual source that Kipple may be innocent and is being framed by a nefarious group. When she trails Kipple and confronts him, every belief she ever had about this world and the next is put to the test.

Kipple, who by his own admission is not the “brightest bulb in the box,” received a heart transplant seventeen months ago. His life changed from the moment he woke up in the recovery room. In fact, he’s not so sure where he ends and his heart takes over. As strange as that sounds to her, Jane cannot deny what she witnesses after spending just two days with Kipple. It becomes clear that nothing is what it appears as Jane is drawn into a deep rabbit hole with dark webs and darker crevices that force her to operate on the other side of the law. With the police hot on Kipple’s tail and a devious faction intent on finding him first, Jane is caught in the middle and realizes that solving this crime could have fatal consequences. ( )

Did not finish...