The Fifth Victim (Cherokee Pointe Trilogy #1) by Beverly Barton

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The Barnes & Noble Review
This romantic suspense tale by Beverly Barton has something extra -- extrasensory perception, that is. Our first glimpse of the horror that has come to Cherokee County, Tennessee, is the murder of a teenage girl in a chilling human sacrifice. Genevieve Madoc, a lovely local woman who is known to be gifted with visions, is an unwilling witness to that terrifying crime, seeing every detail through the eyes of the cold-blooded killer. The descendant of a Cherokee shaman and a Druid priestess, Genny has learned to live with her gifts, doing her best to help her friends and neighbors with her knowledge of herbs and her special insights. She never dreamed her powers would draw her into the hunt for a brutal killer. When rogue FBI agent Dallas Sloan comes to town, he brings devastating news. Dallas believes this murder is only the beginning, that it's the work of the same criminal who killed his young niece -- a serial killer who targets five victims for his rituals before moving on to new hunting grounds. From the first, Genny knows her fate is entwined with the handsome stranger from the FBI, and that link goes beyond their mutual determination to stop the madman who plans to make Genny The Fifth Victim. Sue Stone

From the Publisher

SOME THINGS SHOULDN'T BE SEEN.

Cherokee Pointe, Tennessee. Deep in the Smoky Mountains, the victim lies, sacrificed on a makeshift altar-the gruesome work of a killer who has evaded the authorities in state after state. FBI agent Dallas Sloan knows the scene all too well-just as he knows the killings won't stop until there are four more bodies.

SOME WARNINGS WON'T BE HEEDED.

Genny Madoc's "sixth sense" has brought many of Cherokee Pointe's residents to her isolated log cabin, looking for help. But now it's Genny who needs help from the disturbing visions she sees-images that are getting stronger and more violent day by day.

SOME FEARS CAN'T BE STOPPED.

Thrown together by necessity, drawn to each other by desire, Dallas and Genny must band together, searching the darkest heart of a town's hidden secrets before a twisted killer can complete a sinister plan that will make one of them the fifth victim.

Includes an excerpt of Beverly Barton's new novel The Murder Game!

Publishers Weekly

Unlike Barton's family-centered romantic intrigues (What She Doesn't Know, etc.), this visceral tale fits firmly in the thriller genre, but shades of romance and the paranormal keep it from being just a slasher story. Set in the heart of the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee, the novel opens as a killer sacrifices an innocent woman and drinks her blood to gain strength. He performs these deadly rituals in sets of five before moving on to repeat the process elsewhere. When FBI agent Dallas Sloan hears of the first sacrificial murder in Cherokee Pointe, he takes a leave of absence to investigate and hopefully avenge the death of his niece, who was killed by the same murderer. Genny Madoc, a half-Cherokee with physic abilities, foresees Dallas's approach to the town, and she immediately senses that he's her soul mate. What she doesn't know is that her "sixth sense" makes her the madman's fifth target. As Genny and Dallas join forces, Barton turns her narrative lens on the community and its peculiar inhabitants, transforming this thriller into an insightful exploration of a small town. Scenes of explicit sex and violence can be jarring, but the tension and foreboding twisted throughout provide ample incentive for readers to reach the novel's chilling yet far-fetched conclusion. (Apr.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

What People Are Saying

Linda Howard
"Fast . . . edgy . . . sexy...I loved The Fifth Victim!"--(Linda Howard, New York Times bestselling author)

Lisa Jackson
"Smart, sexy and scary as hell. Beverly Barton just keeps getting better."--(Lisa Jackson, New York Times bestselling author)

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents