By George D. Shuman

Simon & Schuster

ISBN: 978-1-4165-5301-4

244 Pages

Lost Girls by George D. Shuman is one of those books you hate to love! The storyline of human trafficking is horrendous; however, the story created surrounding the topic is an exciting, fast-paced thriller that takes you from the cliffs of Mount McKinley to the jungles of Haiti! Shuman is a 20-year veteran of the Washington D. C., Metropolitan Police Department and he writes with the fascinating detail that comes from that experience!

But then he added Sherry Moore as his main character—not somebody you’d meet on the streets of D.C. Sherry has one paranormal ability; she can touch the hand of deceased individuals and see their last 18 seconds of thoughts! Sometimes those thoughts are those that we would all expect to have—thoughts of our loved ones, or thoughts based on their beliefs about life after death. Surprisingly, many different thoughts can also occur within those seconds, and sometimes Sherry is able to discover those thoughts and use them to help the living!

And it was based upon that hope that Sherry was whisked away to Mount McKinley where a sudden storm had caught many climbers somewhere on that mountain. One climber had fallen and was hanging from his supports, clearly visible from the ground. It was hoped that by taking Sherry to him, she would be able to see his thoughts and perhaps gain information on the location of those with whom he had been climbing. And, indeed, she was able to learn the coordinates of where the remainder of his group was and they were rescued!

While that is just the exciting beginning, the remainder of what she saw in those 18 seconds, was so hideous that Sherry couldn’t just forget them! She had seen jungles, a castle, a red room, a chair with a woman who was being tortured—visions that were so terrifying that the man who had died had found himself reliving them as he, too, met his death.

Little by little, things begin to happen. A policewoman is kidnapped. A young woman on a cruise does not make it back to her ship. News of drugs and human trafficking are whispered in the dark. Interpol is finally able to begin putting things together. One of the first solid leads is that the man who had died on Mount McKinley was the son of a major drug lord who had recently died! And then another death, this time in Haiti, brings news that his death was connected to having seen women being held in a prison in Haiti.

When it is discovered that the young girl from the cruise ship is from a very rich and connected family and her mother refuses to accept not finding out where her daughter is, Sherry is once again contacted, joins together with the girl’s mothers to try to discover what she can from the murdered man who had seen the imprisoned women. When she reaches the location of the corpse, she soon finds herself comparing visions with the local voodoo priest!

Needless to say, this novel is loaded with twists and turns as pieces of information are collected and molded together to find the location of the castle. While the gift of paranormal experience is part of the storyline, I found the overall action and adventure much more compelling. The book is well written, a page-turner, and just might be read in one sitting, as I did!

Highly recommended! But please consider this book adult content!

G. A. Bixler

For Amazon vine