BOOKMONGER
Creepy thriller satisfi es Halloween cravings
‘Echoes of the Dead’ is both mind-boggling and stomach-churning
Here’s a creepy thriller for your pre-Hal-
loween reading: “Echoes of the Dead.”
This is the fourth in a series by Spencer
Kope who, in addition to writing fi ction about
crime, also works as a crime analyst for the
Whatcom County Sheriff ’s Offi ce in northern-
most Washington s tate.
In this installment, Magnus “Steps” Craig
returns as one-third of an elite Special Track-
ing Unit for the FBI. He and his colleagues,
Special Agent Jimmy Donovan and intelli-
gence analyst Diane Parker, are based at a non-
descript hangar at the Bellingham airport, but
the trio handles tough-to-crack cases around
the country. (Their mordant private motto,
“We save the ones we can,” reveals that they
don’t always bat a thousand.)
The Special Tracking Unit gets a call from
the director of the FBI who asks them to assist
with a missing persons case in the Sierra
Nevada. A California congressman and three
of his high profi le friends have disappeared
without a trace while on their annual fi shing
trip.
Diane remains behind her computer in
Bellingham to analyze data and feed her part-
ners the leads she comes up with, while Steps
and Jimmy travel south to do the physical
tracking — along with tracking of another sort.
After a traumatic incident as a child, Steps
acquired a type of synesthesia — he charac-
terizes it as “a borderline neurotic relation-
ship with colors” — in which he can read the
aura of individuals, as well as the “shine” they
leave behind.
But Steps and Jimmy have barely begun
their on-the-ground search at the campsite
where the missing men were last known to
be, when the fi rst dead body shows up — on a
park bench in Bakersfi eld, more than an hour
to the south.
They travel to the morgue to check it out,
and discover that the corpse is not one of the
men they are looking for, although it is wear-
ing the clothes and carrying the ID of one of
the missing men. The mystery doesn’t stop
there. The body in the morgue had been dead
and already buried by a local mortuary several
days before the c ongressman and his buddies
left on their fi shing trip.
As the team digs deeper, they discover that
this is only the beginning of several perplexing
turns in the case.
The author keeps the plot moving at a sat-
isfying clip, but reader beware: “Echoes of the
Dead” contains some truly gruesome scenes.
The scope of the villainy that takes place
is both mind-boggling and stomach-churning.
If readers take a step back from the relentless
pace, they may have questions as to whether
all that transpires could be sustained by the
perpetrator the author supplies.
That said, the protagonists in this story
are marvelous — from orange juice-swilling
Steps, to the under sung but super-smart Diane,
to the aff able local sheriff . Steps’ inner mus-
ings (this story is told in the fi rst person) are
thoughtful, and the dialogue among characters
is snappy and wry.
“Echoes of the Dead” won’t be for every-
one, but does fi ll the bill for “ooky” Hallow-
een reading.
The Bookmonger is Barbara Lloyd McMi-
chael, who writes this weekly column focus-
This week’s book
‘Echoes of the Dead, ’ by Spencer Kope
Minotaur Books — 320 pp — $28.99
ing on the books, authors and publishers of
the Pacifi c Northwest. Contact her at bar-
baraLMcM@gmail.com
The Liberty Theatre Presents
This show has moved to
the outdoor courtyard at:
RILEY DOWNING,
BART BUDWIG,
KASSI VALAZZA
Thursday, October 21, 2021,
6:00 PM, Free Admission
14 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Fort George Brewery
1483 Duane Street.
FREE from 6-8pm.
Worried about getting a table?
Make a reservation at
www.fortgeorgebrewery.com
You may know Riley Downing from his
work with acclaimed New Orleans combo
the Deslondes, or perhaps from his
similarly rootsy and wide-ranging catalog
of songs with the Tumbleweeds - indeed,
the Missouri-based singer-songwriter’s
ability to set gripping, evocative narratives
within soundscapes that weave together
country, blues, folk, r&b, bluegrass, rock,
soul and whatever else catches his ear
is something that, once you hear it, is
hard to shake free from. Same goes for
that voice - deep, dusty and drawling,
it’s an instrument that can stop you
in your tracks with its character and
expressiveness, as well as through
Downing’s knack for laying out complex
emotions in plainspoken, direct language.