Cold Sight - Leslie Parrish

If you follow me on Twitter, you would've seen me tweeting about the fact that I stayed up till 2am the other night, reading Cold Sight, the first book in Leslie Parrish's Extra Sensory Agents series. I literally couldn't put it down.

Here's the blurb from the author's website (where you can also read an excerpt):

After being made a scapegoat in a botched investigation that led to a child's death, Aidan McConnell became a recluse. Still, as a favor to an old friend, Aidan will help on the occasional XI case. But under his handsome, rugged facade, he keeps his emotions in check--for fear of being burned again.

Reporter Lexie Nolan has a nose for news--and she believes a serial killer has been targeting teen girls around Savannah. But no one believes her. So she turns to the new paranormal detective agency and the sexy, mysterious Aidan for help.

But just as the two begin forging a relationship, the case turns eerily personal for Lexie--and Aidan discovers that maybe he hasn't lost the ability to feel after all...

The hero, Aidan, is a psychic, with the ability to "connect" to people, including victims of violent crime. He's helped find and save people in the past, but things went terribly wrong in his last case. As for the heroine, I really liked Lexie - it wasn't just about a story for her. The victims mattered to her as people, and she'd do anything she could to save them.

Though this is labelled as paranormal romance, for me it read more like a dark, gritty and gripping suspense with paranormal elements (being the extra sensory abilities of Aidan and the other investigators) and a romantic thread. But I didn't feel short-changed with the romance - I believed in Aidan and Lexie's relationship.

I will warn you that the book is dark, and the villains do some truly evil things, but if you're a suspense fan, I think you'll enjoy Cold Sight. The only series I can think of to compare it to is Kay Hooper's Bishop/Special Crimes Unit books - they're both very different, but there's that compelling mix of strong suspense, paranormal elements, and romance.

You can read some more in-depth reviews of the book at Smexy Books, All About Romance and Book Binge.

This was my first book by Leslie Parrish, but I have a feeling she's going to become a favorite author. I've already got Cold Touch, the second book in the series (about an investigator who experiences the last two minutes and ten seconds of a murder victim's life if she touches the body).

Have you read this series? Thoughts?