The rating i actually a 4 and 1/2 stars, but I rounded it to 5 because the story was good.
The paranormal element was not over-stressed, but nicely fit into the story. It was made like almost the most natural thing. I like how it was done!
Also the love story was good. It has the feel of an insta-love, but it was not overdone. The hero, Zach, and the heroine, Sloane, were fighting this attraction, but, obviously, cound't not succumb to it! *wink*
Zach is a strong (and yoummy!!!) man who has suffered very much in his life. He was abused by his mother, passed from one to another foster family where he was made a scapegoat, wrongly imprisoned... But his sense of honour and his almost over-the-top sense of responsibility towards those he consider his firends and acquired family is humbling. He think he's responsible for everything: Ann's dissapearence, his mentor's death, his business troubles...
Still he cannot deny his attraction towards Sloane, and though he fights it, he also succumbs to it. And what a fall that is! :D
Sloane is damaged too. She's "burdened" by a psychic sense: psychometry. When she touches an object she can see what happened around it. But this "power" has brought her nothing but pain. She feels guilty for all the bad things that happened when she tried to use it. So she decided not to use it.
But life has other ideas about it and when she meets Zach, she cannot control it anymore. There's something that connect the two of them. And it's powerful. They may fight it, but it likes them in an unexpected way: they form a kind of telepathy and she must acknowledge that Zach is her anchor to reality when she has a paychometric episode.
The story is very fast paced and there're many unexpected things happening while they search for Ann: not everything is as it seems!
I liked very much the mystery and sleuthing part. How parts of their respective lives were revealed. How at the end (a very, very suspenseful and surprising end!!!) things clicked together!
So, why 4 and 1/2 stars?
Well, I felt that the responsibility parts were too heavy. They both seem to feel responsible for every single bad thing that ever happened. OK, one can feel responsible for one, two, three things, but not for every and each one!
So, that's the reason why...
Other than that the story was excellent!