Deep Down (Wide Open #2) by Deborah Coates

2nd in trilogy
304p.
Publisher: Tor Books
Available now
Source: Provided by Tor for review

Death stalks the haunted, windswept prairie in this chilling sequel to Wide Open

Now that she's solved her sister's murder, Hallie Michaels has left the army and isn't sure what to do next. Her relationship with deputy Boyd Davies is tentative, there's still distance between her and her father, and she needs a job. The good news is, she hasn't seen a ghost in weeks. 

All that changes when she gets a call asking her to help an elderly neighbor who is being stalked by black dogs, creatures from the underworld that are harbingers of death. When a black dog appears, Hallie learns, a reaper is sure to follow. And if the dark visions she's suddenly receiving are any indication, it looks like the reaper is now following her. 

Meanwhile, strange events herald the arrival of ghosts from Boyd's past, ghosts the young deputy isn't ready to face. Refusing Hallie's help, Boyd takes off to deal with the problem on his own, only to find that he's facing something much larger and more frightening than he'd imagined. 

Stalked by a reaper and plagued by dark visions, Hallie finds she must face her fears and travel into Death's own realm to save those she most loves.

My thoughts:
After reading Wide Open I luckily had Deep Down ready and waiting for me to pick it up. While I do think you may be able to read this book without reading the first book, I wouldn't recommend it. You would miss to much character and story wise. Plus, there is only one more book in this trilogy so I would't miss that first book.

While the first book relied a bit more heavily on mystery than the paranormal, this one seemed to be the opposite. There was still plenty of mystery, but the paranormal reigns in this book. Not only there are ghosts, but reapers and harbingers in the form of black dogs. Now while I wouldn't want to specifically meet a harbinger, I did like one of the dogs that befriended Hallie in this book. Him, I would like to meet as long as it wasn't his "job" to meet me. :)

I have to say that I think I enjoyed this book more than the first. Now that the main characters are established the rest of the story just flowed better. I can't wait to see where this series takes us next in the last book. In fact, I have to know. As the main mystery and adventure is fully wrapped up, there is a question that is left floating. I hope that the answers are there as I need to know exactly what her decision was in the end. I suspect it will be the theme of the last book. You are left with that thread wide open (maybe that should have been the title for this book! LOL).

I give this book 4 1/2 stars and I recommend it to those that love a good paranormal adventure! Isn't that last book out yet? Not that I'm impatient or anything... :D