Touching Evil by Kay Hooper: Book Review

Touching Evil: A Review

by Alina Jackson

Touching Evil tells the tale of Maggie Barnes, a telepathic police sketch artist that is determined to stop the evil that is terrorizing the streets of Seattle.   Knowing that it will be her personal responsibility to stop this madness, Maggie puts herself in life threatening situations.  With no clues or description of the perpetrator she must rely on her own special talents and the information a blinded victim can recall.  While pursuing the mad man she meets John Garrett, a self-assured successful business man, who finds it hard to believe in Maggie’s talents but begins to fall deeply in love with her.  As time progresses John becomes more convinced that Maggie is in serious danger.  Since no new leads develop,  John, with the help of the lead investigator, convince the Chief of Police to call in the little known special unit of the FBI to help end this terror.  Can this psychopath be caught before the evil touches more of Seattle’s young women and destroys the woman he loves? 

The opening prologue grabbed me from the first sentence but as the chapters continued I found it harder to get excited about the story. I kept turning the pages but I think that was due more to my determination than the thrill of the story. The characters in the story were flat. The supporting characters lacked depth to the point that I often forgot who they were and why they were there, making it necessary to go back a few pages to refresh my memory.  John Garrett, the love interest, seemed nice enough but I wanted to fall in love with him.  I knew little about his personality except that he didn’t believe that it was possible to possess any of the paranormal talents described in the story.  I would have liked to know where he came from and what drove him to be successful.  John and Maggie’s relationship could have used a more in-depth description.  What about John did Maggie love?  What about Maggie, other than her talents, did John love, hate, or fear?   Also, Maggie’s brother Beau added little to the story and didn’t show a side of Maggie that made her seem more real.  I was puzzled why he was even mentioned.  Then the villain came out of no-where.  It felt as though it was an afterthought where the author had to find a way to end the tale.  All I could think about was if John was a powerful and smart business man then why didn’t he see anything unusual when his sister became a widow?   The story ended with too many questions left unanswered.