New York Times bestselling author Kay Hooper takes us to the outer reaches of fear in Blood Ties, as the Special Crimes Unit is targeted ... read full description
reviews
May 04, 2011
Dana
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To those of you that really, really don't like change, I apologise. (something expert bloggers say I should never do - but it feels right) For this month only, as we focus on 'chick lit', the reviews will follow the 'chick lit check list'.
1. fiction that, often humourously, explores issues of modern womanhood There is some, rather dark, humour from time to time in the novel. It is a tricky thing to insert humour into a story about a serial killer torturing and ... well ... killing More...
1. fiction that, often humourously, explores issues of modern womanhood There is some, rather dark, humour from time to time in the novel. It is a tricky thing to insert humour into a story about a serial killer torturing and ... well ... killing More...
Jan 16, 2011
C.G.
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Kay Hooper has been one of my favourite authors from her first category romance - and I still have all her books and still re-read them (especially the Hagen series). I have just re-read the whole Bishop/Special Crimes Unit series up to "Blood Sins" so I could remember all the characters before I read the last two books of the series - currently.
Kay Hooper just gets better and better. "Blood Sins" and "Blood Ties" are probably the best of the series, alt More...
Kay Hooper just gets better and better. "Blood Sins" and "Blood Ties" are probably the best of the series, alt More...
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Mar 12, 2010
Bob
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My first Kay Hooper and I must say I wasn't very impressed. Just a so so tale and the production quality of the Random House Large print copy left much to be desired. The random changes of font to Bold for paragraphs, sentences, words and even letters for no apparent reason detracted from the books enjoyment.
Since this was the latest in a series there was much of the previous history of the characters that was just lightly touched on and in this instance the members of the Special Crimes More...
Since this was the latest in a series there was much of the previous history of the characters that was just lightly touched on and in this instance the members of the Special Crimes More...
Dec 01, 2010
Merredith
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I love the Bishop special FBI series, it's like Xmen. Bishop is an agent with very strong psychic powers, especially when he joins forces with his wife Miranda, another agent. Together, they have formed a special unit within the FBI, where over the series of books, they find and recruit new people in who have incredible powers, including mind reading, talking with the dead, taking other people's powers, healing themselves and others…there's even one guy who's almost impossible to kill. Together
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Aug 07, 2010
Caitlin
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Kay Hooper's Special Crimes Unit books have always been reliable escapist fiction in the romantic thriller category with paranormal elements thrown in for good measure. They pretty much all work on the same premise - our vulnerable heroine is just trying to grow into her psychic abilities, our hero is closed off and dangerous, and there's a serial killer they're both trying to put away. This isn't Literature, but that's okay - sometimes you want a hamburger and sometimes you want prime rib.
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Feb 12, 2010
Suspense Magazine
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In her twelfth edition to the Bishop/Special Crimes Unit series, Kay Hooper continues to mesmerize readers with explosive conflicts and gripping characters. Bishop’s well-trained unit of misfits work frantically to stop the escalating body count in “Blood Ties”, as an unknown assailant targets the SCU and ultimately takes a small town hostage through fear.
Fans will be captivated—at every turn—as much loved players from previous volumes arrive on scene to pitch in using their unique More...
Fans will be captivated—at every turn—as much loved players from previous volumes arrive on scene to pitch in using their unique More...
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Mar 01, 2010
E.
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Grisly murders being investigated by the Special Crimes Unit snowball into a series of threats upon the unit itself. Several members are learning the extent of their powers and the horrific events that led up to this book are still vivid in their memories. Hollis and Diana must respectively learn to depend on the men who want to be important in their lives as they navigate the treacherous gray world that Diana has inadvertently exposed Hollis to. Noah Bishop is in the background offsite while
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Jun 08, 2011
Julia
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At about half way through the book and I am enjoying it. But it seems like every chapter introduces more characters to the story, and it is getting hard to keep track of them all. I know most of them have appeared in previous books, but I read so many books it is hard to keep them all straight.
I have finished the book now. It was a good story with a satisfying ending. Some of the plot twists are a little hard to believe. I am all ready to believe in psychic powers, but that seems to become More...
I have finished the book now. It was a good story with a satisfying ending. Some of the plot twists are a little hard to believe. I am all ready to believe in psychic powers, but that seems to become More...
Oct 31, 2010
Kay
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This is the 12th book in this series and I've enjoyed all of them more than this one. Hooper combined all her characters from the other books and made it too confusing in what I thought was a weak plot. If I had just finished reading the other 11 it would have made a difference but I've been reading them for many years. Each character has a different ability in the physic world and it was overload as far as I'm concerned. If I was one of those people who read the ending first to find out 'wh
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Sep 23, 2011
Tasha
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So this was new for me... I've never been a fan of paranormal type abilities. More especially as they are used to solve crime. Just not my thing, I'm more of a fact type person.
However, this just kind of sucked me in and honestly I still don't know why. The characters were good. The story was really not my thing at all though. It had to do w/grey times and being dead but not really being dead and hanging out in some middle space yada yada... Then everyone has different abilitie More...
However, this just kind of sucked me in and honestly I still don't know why. The characters were good. The story was really not my thing at all though. It had to do w/grey times and being dead but not really being dead and hanging out in some middle space yada yada... Then everyone has different abilitie More...
May 19, 2011
Mary
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This book is ok for a so called "conclusion" to this specific story, not one that I was really captured by. There are just too many gifted people involved with the story for my taste - its like everyone is a pyschic everwhere you turn. I liked the serial killer plot and she does a great job connect the 3 books. I didn't care for the end leaving it so she could continue the story at a later date. After you are done with a series you want some kind of closure to it and this one leave
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Mar 14, 2010
Becky
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I have always been a big Kay Hooper fan and I love the Special Crimes Unit books because they bring something so different to the mystery genre. That said, I'm hoping that Hooper, in an attempt to keep the books interesting, doesn't go too far.
Blood Ties is the first Hooper book that I started to feel was becoming a bit stretched - Hooper is introducing so many psychics, with so many different talents which are ever changing, and each character is always concerned that all the elect More...
Blood Ties is the first Hooper book that I started to feel was becoming a bit stretched - Hooper is introducing so many psychics, with so many different talents which are ever changing, and each character is always concerned that all the elect More...
Jul 26, 2010
Lesli
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Better than Blood Dreams. About the same level as Blood Sins. However, I'm putting paid to this series. The ending puts the whole kibosh on this series. I like to read suspense/thriller fiction; but I'd like a little less reality with it please. I don't want to walk away from a book feeling like I just watched a couple days worth of local and national news -- depressing, violent stories with tragedy and little hope.
So, yeah. Blood Ties was a good story. Just a really sad chapter in More...
So, yeah. Blood Ties was a good story. Just a really sad chapter in More...
Feb 09, 2010
Melody
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Evil has an agenda in tiny Serenade, Tennessee, and it's ultimate target is the SCU itself. With this twelfth entry, you'd think that Kay Hooper's characters were getting a little tiresome. But I still find them fresh with crisp dialogue and an imaginative story. Characters wander in and out of the various novels like old friends as each story takes the reader further into the paranormal dealings of the Special Crimes Unit. One of the things I really liked that I had never seen before: the autho
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Jul 31, 2011
Brian
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I've read a bunch of Kay Hooper's 'Special Crimes Unit' books now. This was the latest in the series and easily my favorite. I would say it was her best, but I believe a number of her readers aren't pleased with the move AWAY from romance. I simply loved this tale because it featured almost the whole 'psychic FBI gang' working together as a unit.
It was bloody, it was brilliant and it was a bold new direction. THIS is where Kay Hooper's tales are going epic, and this is the book More...
It was bloody, it was brilliant and it was a bold new direction. THIS is where Kay Hooper's tales are going epic, and this is the book More...
Sep 17, 2010
Angie
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This is number 12 in Kay Hooper's "Bishop" series. I really liked the books at the beginning - they were mostly stand alone, but with an underlying theme that connected the books in groups of 3's. I've read the first 11 books, but I still felt really lost while reading this one. There were too many story lines and people referenced in this particular book - it was confusing and hard to follow and really detracted from the overall storyline. Even though this was book 3 in this particula
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Jan 30, 2010
Rachel
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I absolutely love Kay Hooper and I have read all of the Bishop series. I enjoyed this book - though the end made me cry a little. I will say, I do not think this book is for those who have not read at least the Blood series. Up until this book I felt that you could start on just about any Bishop novel and enjoy (I started on the second trilogy); this involves so many of the characters I think you will enjoy it more if you have read the other books. That aside while this was not my favorite o
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Dec 12, 2010
Laura
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Uh oh. I picked this up at the library because I needed something quick. Stuck in the first disc today and found that the FBI Special Crimes Unit in the book is "special" because they're all psychic. This doesn't bode well... But I'm sticking with it for now as I have no time to get back to the library to trade it in on something else. We'll see... It seems pretty clunky so far...
This was even worse than I feared. I only finished because I was far enough into it and trapped More...
This was even worse than I feared. I only finished because I was far enough into it and trapped More...
May 05, 2010
Mackenzie
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Very good book, although a little confusing because I haven't read any of Hooper's other novels so where she made reference to situations that happened in other books, I felt a little left out.. as i had no idea what she was talking about.
Even so, still a very good book. I loved how they all had some kind of "special" power. Made it all more interesting and exciting.
I recommend it, if you've read the two that come before this one, Blood Dreams (the first) and Blood Sins (t More...
Even so, still a very good book. I loved how they all had some kind of "special" power. Made it all more interesting and exciting.
I recommend it, if you've read the two that come before this one, Blood Dreams (the first) and Blood Sins (t More...
May 30, 2011
Byakko74
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M'è piaciuto, mi aspettavo quasi uno dei 'cattivi', i serial di questo libro interessanti fino ad un certo punto, ma la rivelazione finale del 'cattivo' per eccellenza mi ha lasciata spiazzata. Mi aspettavo cose diverse, avevo pensato a personaggi diversi, ma devo dire che non sono rimasta delusa. E adesso aspettiamo un anno per l'inizio della nuova trilogia. I presupposti mi fanno venire i brividi, tra la grande perdita di Bishop e Miranda e l'epilogo di questo volume immagino che scivoleremo a
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Sep 25, 2010
Linda
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One of the things I love about Kay Hooper is she never disappoints me. I expect to be pulled into her story, and her characters and find that I simply cannot put the book down. Blood Ties was truly a page turner, and having fallen in love with the SCU early on it wasn't hard to follow the vast number of characters and "special abilities" they possessed. Still, even knowing the characters the way I do there were some real surprises in store for me. I have missed a few books so will no
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Apr 02, 2010
Vanessa
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I just finished this book and probably would have had it done in two days if I had the time. I loved the audio, although the reader was so-so. That being said, this series is one of my keeper collections, and so I will definitely be picking up the book when it comes out in paperback. I think I need to re-read the trilogy because I had some trouble remembering some of the incidents or places they were referring to. Looking at other reviews, I see that there is a sort of bibliography, explaining
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Jan 21, 2012
Yeva
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With this book, I've finished the Blood trilogy of Ms. Hooper's. The story was more than I expected, and it left me wanting to read her next book like a crack addict needs her next hit. And then...when I thought it couldn't get any better, Ms. Hooper gave an extra surprise. At the very back of the book, she's included bios of each character and a glossary of psychic powers and other abilites. Wonderful for fans who haven't read all of her books or those waiting to read the next installment.
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Feb 08, 2010
Barbara
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In Blood Sins after the massive psychic explosion that ultimately killed Samuel (the bad guy), everyone at SCU who was involved in the incident felt their abilities change - some for the good and some not. The SCU team is involved in the continuing serial killer case that has dragged on for numerous books now. In this installment, the sniper and the serial killer mysteries are intense and suspenseful - you never know just what is going to happen next. The SCU team are all interesting characte
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May 15, 2010
Portia
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This was an interesting book that was given to me as a gift. The problem was that I hadn't read any before and it's hard to follow what's happened before with the characters. Even this story was based on previous. I think it may have been the third in a triology. I wish that had been more obvious because it probably wouldn't have been given to me if it had. Having said all of that, it was an interesting concept. It's about a special crime unit whose agents all have various psychic abilitie
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Apr 20, 2010
Shiela
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It took me a week to finish a 300 page book...enough said.
This might be another author I'll have to officially give up on after reading her for many many years. The supernatural element has gone way too far where it's just stupid and totally unbelievable. That was what I use to like about this series, there was just enough to make things interesting and believable, not anymore. This series has just become ridiculously awful to the point that it is painful to read. Too many good b More...
This might be another author I'll have to officially give up on after reading her for many many years. The supernatural element has gone way too far where it's just stupid and totally unbelievable. That was what I use to like about this series, there was just enough to make things interesting and believable, not anymore. This series has just become ridiculously awful to the point that it is painful to read. Too many good b More...
Mar 18, 2010
Kathryn
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I love Kay Hooper's series of psychic detectives. Each book I have read has been awesome. I really liked the concept of everything being related, that everything is connected which is at the heart what this book is about. The ending was a bit of a surprise to me and I felt a bit sad about it too. I look forward to her next book! :) If you have not check out her books, you should. I will warn that the crimes involved are generally of a hideous nature, but the books are worth the read!
Jul 27, 2010
Martha
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This is the first of these books that I have read - after reading it, it's pretty obvious I should have read earlier ones first. However, even saying that, I have to say this wasn't my type of book. It involves a group of special FBI agents, all of whom have some sort of psychic ability. Too weird for me. After finishing the book, there was a list of all the characters and their abilities and a glossary of what all those abilities actually are. Still too weird.
Feb 22, 2010
Chris
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I really enjoyed this newest addition to the Bishop series. Some people have said they found it too dark and somewhat gory. Yes, it was dark, but this is indicative of the series. If you don't enjoy books that center around psychic and other paranormal talents, this book (and series) is not for you. I happen to love paranormal. This book left a lot of unanswered questions and I'm anxiously awaiting the next book in the series - and hopefully some answers.
Nov 01, 2011
Martha
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What starts out as a murder mystery/serial killer hunts turns into a psychic quest through the gray time of the not quite dead. This book is in a series, but the author claims it can be read stand alone....i beg to differ. The plot twisted several times, in and out of the physical world. Apparently a previously deceased character is wreaking havoc from the grave, and an elite group of agents is on his trail. I had a hard time keeping up with the characters, several of whom popped in for the firs
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