Review & Excerpt: The Night Island by Jayne Ann Krentz

 

The Night Island (The Lost Night Files #2) by Jayne Ann Krentz

Publication Date: January 9th 2024 by Berkley

Pages: 336

Source: Publisher 

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Seven months ago, Talia March, and her two friends, Pallas and Amelia, went to Lucent Springs, thinking they were being interviewed for a job and ended up waking up the next day with no memory of what happened. Each had minor psychic talents that were enhanced and strengthened after that “lost” night. Since then, they’ve been searching for answers, starting a Podcast to shine light on the event and get answers. A tip comes in that points to how they were all selected and targeted and Talia is tasked with retrieving it. This is where she meets up with Luke Rand, a man also in search of answers after suffering a similar experience. Pheobe, the woman with the list disappears, and Talia knows she’s been taken. She and Luke band together to find her. Of course, there’s an undercurrent of attraction between them as they sort out whether they can trust each other.

 

Luke and Talia’s investigations lead them to sign up for the “Unplugged Experiment” on one of the islands off the coast of Seattle, where they’re supposed to leave their phones and connection to the mainland behind and achieve “inner balance”. It soon becomes apparent that the retreat is a cover for more nefarious activities. Talia and Luke use their talents to try and find Pheobe and stay alive.

On an isolated island, with shifty characters, suspicious deaths, as well as strange plants that seem out of control, Talia and Luke had a lot to contend with. There are connections to past stories that fans will pick up on: The Bluestone Project, The Foundation, and a few familiar names, but The Night Island can easily be read as a standalone.

The Night Island was another fun, action-packed installment of The Lost Files series. Jayne Ann Krentz blends romantic suspense with a bit of the paranormal and a lot of imagination for a fast-paced, entertaining mystery.

Excerpt:

Book Description:

The disappearance of a mysterious informant leads two people desperate for answers to an island of deadly deception in this new novel in the Lost Night Files trilogy by New York Times bestselling author Jayne Ann Krentz.
 
Talia March, Pallas Llewellyn, and Amelia Rivers, bonded by a night they all have no memory of, are dedicated to uncovering the mystery of what really happened to them months ago—an experience that brought out innate psychic abilities in each of them. The women suspect they were test subjects years earlier, and that there are more people like them—all they have to do is find the list. When Talia follows up on a lead from Phoebe, a fan of the trio’s podcast, she discovers that the informant has vanished.
 
Talia isn’t the only one looking for Phoebe, however. Luke Rand, a hunted and haunted man who is chasing the same list that Talia is after, also shows up at the meeting place. It’s clear he has his own agenda, and they are instantly suspicious of each other. But when a killer begins to stalk them, they realize they have to join forces to find Phoebe and the list.
 
The rocky investigation leads Talia and Luke to a rustic, remote retreat on Night Island in the Pacific Northwest. The retreat promises to rejuvenate guests with the Unplugged Experience. Upon their arrival, Talia and Luke discover guests are quite literally cut off from the outside world because none of their high-tech devices work on the island. It soon becomes clear that Phoebe is not the first person to disappear into the strange gardens that surround the Unplugged Experience retreat. And then the first mysterious death occurs…

 

Photo credit: Marc von Borstel

About the Author

Jayne Ann Krentz is the author of more than fifty New York Times bestsellers. She has written contemporary romantic suspense novels under that name and futuristic and historical romance novels under the pseudonyms Jayne Castle and Amanda Quick, respectively. Learn more online at www.jayneannkrentz.com.