Review: I Hear Voices

I Hear Voices by Gail Koger

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars


Alpha male plus trouble magnet female is Ms. Koger's trademark. One would think that after reading every book similar to this premise, I'd be tired of it. One would be wrong. I really enjoy it and this gift from Ms. Koger is a delightful 3.5 star book.

Zelda is a ghostbusting psychic with an interesting family curse. It's one of the reasons why she is still a virgin at her ripe age. She's currently unemployed and desperately fending off her crazy Aunt Sophie who is mixed up with the dark arts. Bonding with demons is definitely off Zelda's list of things to do. With her need for cash, she determines to find her payload through gold. Specifically, a treasure hidden by the Aztecs centuries ago is the answer to her prayers. Unfortunately, Derek Sloan is in her way. Derek wants the treasure and he will do anything to find it.

Derek is some sort of CIA operative with unlimited budget to chase after Zelda yet not enough money to go after and save his friend. Derek is an alpha male who is constantly undermined by slippery Zelda. Zelda's shenanigans are unbelievable at times.

This story is action packed. The world building is a bit rough. There are holes here and there which leads a reader to believe there was either a story before this one or this is supposed to be the beginning of a series. Hopefully there is a 0.5 prequel detailing the Dragos family. A follow up to this story with Derek and Zelda saving Derek's friend would also be great.

There are some plot holes in this story which make it a hard read for those who like to have logic in their story. While I prefer to have a smooth read with solid world building and good character building, Ms. Koger's writing voice overcomes these requirements. Her first person writing as the wacky Zelda is just hilarious. It never fails to bring a smile to my face. I tend to chortle throughout the book which is why I never drink anything while reading Ms. Koger's books. I don't want to do a spit take.

Ms. Koger's forte is character dialog. It's witty and the timing is perfect. Her sense of humour is also the type I like which makes her books appealing to me. For example, the lead female is always poking at the alpha male. Truly, these males have the patience of a saint. I'd have spanked these unruly female's ass fiery red multiple times a day. Here's a snippet which sums up Zelda and Derek's relationship. In this little scene, Zelda buys shirts for Derek to wear.

He [Derek] yanked out a neon yellow shirt with ‘I Don’t Have A License To Kill, I Have A Learner’s Permit’ stamped on the front.

“Are you deliberately trying to piss me off?” (pg. 135)

The answer is YES! Zelda is trying to drive Derek crazy and piss him off.

My recommendation for Ms. Koger is to work on her world building. I provided one example above which didn't make sense to me. Another one is why Zelda doesn't just go to her other Uncle and work with him. It's never clear to me why the only choice is for her to become a treasure hunter. This plot device feels forced even if it is required to make the plot work. From a character perspective, I love her characters. They are flawed and they try so hard to overcome them. The drawback of her characters is that they all have the save voice. Every male in each book is the same. It happens to be a type of male I like so it's fine for me. All her female leads also sound the same and behave in similar manners despite the differences in occupation. Since I like the females, it is also fine for me. From a writing perspective, the ability to create different female and male characters will be a good growth progression for Ms. Koger. Because this will allow her writing to appeal to a larger audience.

Still, this book is a hoot to read from beginning to end. I buckled my seat belt and enjoyed the wild ride. Recommended for paranormal romance lovers who love exasperated alpha males and quirky female leads.


*I received this book as a gift. No review was request. I gave one anyway.


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