The Dead Room » (Reprint)

New York Times bestselling author Heather Graham has written more than a hundred novels, many of which have been featured by the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild. An avid scuba diver, ballroom dancer and mother of five, she still enjoys her south Florida home, but loves to travel as well.

A year ago, archaeologist Leslie MacIntyre barely survived the explosion that took the life of her fiancé, Matt Connolly. In the long months since, she’s slowly come to terms not only with her loss but with her unsettling new ability to communicate with ghosts, a dubious “gift” received in the wake of her own brush with death.

Now she’s returned to lower Manhattan’s historic Hastings House, site of the explosion, to conquer her fears and investigate a newly discovered burial ground. In this place restless spirits hold the secrets not only of past injustice but of a very real and very contemporary conspiracy with deadly designs on the city’s women - including Leslie herself.

By night Matt visits her in dreams, warning her and offering clues to the truth, while by day she finds herself helped by - and attracted to - his flesh-and-blood cousin Joe. Torn by her feelings for both men, caught between the worlds of the living and the dead, Leslie struggles against the encroaching danger that threatens to overcome her. As she is drawn closer to the darkness at the heart of Hastings House, she must ultimately face the power of an evil mind, alone in a place where not even the men she love can save her.

Publishers Weekly

At the start of this chilling paranormal thriller from bestseller Graham (Kiss of Darkness), anthropologist Leslie MacIntyre eagerly accepts an invitation to work on an archeological dig near New York City's Hastings House, a historic building that survived the explosion which a year earlier seriously injured her and killed her fiancé, Matt Connolly. As a temporary resident of Hastings House, Leslie, who has developed the ability to communicate with ghosts, sees Matt in her dreams, complete with convincing erotic love scenes. A secondary plot adds to the intrigue as Matt's cousin, PI Joe Connolly, searches for a missing social worker, whose disappearance may be linked to that of local prostitutes. Leslie's paranormal powers lead her to not only important archeological discoveries but also grave personal danger. The intense, unexpected conclusion will leave readers well satisfied. (Apr.)