Below Hell?

South of Hell by PJ Parrish

PJ Parrish, a sister writing team, has released a new Louis Kincaid novel.  While I am a big fan of authors like Jeffery Deaver and Stephan King, I wa a Louis Kincaid virgin.  The book is about a tortured PI (Kincaid) and his female detective lover (Joe) trying to solve a cold case.  The story starts in Florida and quickly moves to Hell, Michigan where a local detective (Jake Shockey) is trying to get some closure over a 'cold case' by any means necessary.  Wrapped up in the story is a little girl (Amy), her violent father (Owen Brandt), and a possible murder (Jean Brandt). Kincaid and Joe are a good duo with lots of internal tension and I can tell from the story I'll want to go back and read some of the previous books, but the other characters don't show the same 3 dimensionality.  Owen seems a bit overly violent and Amy is a bit too strong-willed to be realistic, but it was fast paced and an easy read (good weekend/beach fiction).  I enjoyed Louis Kincaid, but throughout the story I didn't expect the he was only 29 years old.  The book goes off the beaten track into the land of regressed memories, but doesn't completely venture into the paranormal, keeping us skeptics along for the ride.

Plot: 3 stars; Character development: 2 stars; Overall: 2.5 stars