Surrogate Evil (Lee Nez Series #4) »

David and Aimée Thurlo are the authors of the Ella Clah series, the Sister Agatha series, and two previous Lee Nez novels, Second Sunrise and Blood Retribution. They have also written Plant Them Deep, which features Rose Destea from the Ella Clah series, and The Spirit Line, a novel for young adults. The Thurlos live in Corrales, New Mexico, with an ever-changing menagerie.

It's frustrating for local law enforcement to come up against a piece of scum like Newton Glover. He's dirty as hell, everyone knows that—breaks into and vandalizes his neighbors' homes; cheats and steals from everyone; folks suspect he deals drugs and porn. He's even killed a man and gotten away with it. He gets away with all of it, hinting that he has a secret government background and that he's "protected" by the Powers That Be.

Glover may finally have gone too far. He's suspected of kidnapping a young teenage boy to use for child porn and a pedophile sex-ring. There's no proof, but this time, Albuquerque police are determined to nail Glover to the wall.

Lee Nez, a Navajo state police officer, and Diane Lopez, an FBI agent, go undercover in Glover's trailer park. Lee and Diane find that their growing attraction for each other is heightened by their posing as husband and wife, but do not allow that to distract them from their mission. They soon learn that not long ago, Glover's neighbors tried to take the law into their own hands—they dragged Glover from his home and beat him to death, leaving him in a shallow grave.

To everyone's shock, a few days later Glover reappeared with not a mark on him. Lee and Diane are no strangers to the supernatural—Lee is a Navajo vampire and Diane's last FBI partner was killed by a werewolf. Whatever Glover is, they'll deal with it.

When a second child goes missing and clues link her to Glover, Lee and Diane know they are running out of time. Glover may be some kind of un-dead, but soon those children will be really dead, or worse.

Publishers Weekly

In the Thurlos' lackluster fourth Lee Nez novel (after 2005's Pale Death), the half-vampire Navajo police officer and his girlfriend, FBI Special Agent Diane Lopez, set up undercover housekeeping across the street from East Mountain area crime and corruption kingpin Newton Glover. Lee draws on his extraordinary nightwalker abilities to track and bring down Glover, as well as find a missing 10-year-old, Timothy Klein, who might be Glover's victim. Lee and Diane enlist the aid of Albuquerque, N.Mex., police officer Andrea "Andy" Moore, and the good guys set a trap to snag Glover and take down a wannabe porn producer in the very same net. Lee takes more than the heat on this one, and more than one officer loses his life in the foray. Unfortunately, the concluding action amounts to too little too late. (Dec.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.