The Forgotten by Heather Graham

I've now read four of Heather Graham's paranormal suspense books.  The Forgotten is the latest in her Krewe of Hunters series, which makes no sense as the Krewe isn't more than a bit player in the story.

Here's the summary:

Murdered by a dead man? 

A woman named Maria Gomez is murdered in Miami, apparently by her husband—who'd been presumed dead, slain by a crime boss. FBI agent Brett Cody can't believe it; dead or alive, the man had loved his wife. He also can't help feeling guilty, since he was responsible for protecting Miguel and Maria Gomez. 

A few miles away, Lara Mayhew has just begun working at a dolphin research facility. She loves her new job—until a dolphin brings her something unexpected from the deep. A human hand. More body parts show up, and when Brett looks into the situation, he discovers that the dismembered corpse is Miguel's. 

Soon, rumors of crazed zombies abound in the Miami media, and the Krewe of Hunters, an elite FBI unit of paranormal investigators, is called in. Brett and Lara find themselves working with the Krewe—and working closely together. An elderly crime boss who's losing his memory seems to be key to solving this case, but…there's no motive. Unless Brett and Lara can uncover one in the Miami underworld. And that means they have to protect themselves. And each other.


The Forgotten is the story of Meg's friend from The Silenced.  Lara is remarkably unscathed from her kidnapping experience. She's been at her new job at a dolphin research facility a very short time when her favorite dolphin starts bringing her body parts. She's a bit nervous, and grossed out, but doesn't panic or anything. When more people die and it appears that they are being killed by dead men, Meg and Matt (from The Silenced) are sent to Miami to help the local FBI investigate. Rumors quickly start flying that there is a zombie army being created, and it's true that the plot has some zombie aspects, but I never really felt any suspense about the zombies.

Local FBI is in the form of one Agent Brett Cody. I have absolutely nothing, good or bad, to say about him. He was as much of a non-character as I've ever read in a romance. In fact, I often forgot if he were the hero or if it were his partner. Interchangeable FBI!  What did this mean for the romance? It meant that it was pretty unbelievable. The tension leading up to their first kiss/encounter was pretty good, but they go from 0 to forever in about 5 minutes (literally) and frankly, I didn't see why. They just "knew".

As in The Silenced, Graham takes frequent detours to teach you some history, in the case about Miami and Haiti and zombies. It's clear that she spent some time thinking about the science behind creating zombies and unlike in The Silenced it wasn't so much as to be distracting from the plot. However, after several of the books in a shortish time, it felt very much like Graham is following a recipe for each book. (Crazily, even tho people criticize straight romance much more than anything labelled suspense, I've rarely found this type of formula in straight romance.)

I feel like four books is plenty to get a solid feel for the series and Graham's writing. They are a lot like eating candy that you don't love. When it's all said and done you think, "hmm. that was ok, but I could have been reading something much better". That said, I've already requested the next one from NetGalley (I'm weak, and they have the same comfort factor as a JD Robb book for me) but my hopes aren't terribly high for any of them to be favorites.