Lighting in a Mirror

 Lightning in a Mirror (Fogg Lake 3)- Jayne Ann Krentz

Berkley Publishing

Release Date: January 18, 2022

Stars: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Olivia LeClair's experiment with speed dating is not going well. First there was the nasty encounter with the date from hell who tried to murder her and now the mysterious Harlan Rancourt—long believed dead—sits down at her table and tells her she's the only one who can help him locate the legendary Vortex lab.

This is not what Olivia had in mind when she signed up for the Four Event Success Guaranteed package offered by the dating agency.  She doesn't have much choice, though, because her psychic investigation firm works for the mysterious Foundation and Victor Arganbright, the director, is adamant that she assist Harlan. There's just one problem—no one knows Harlan's real agenda. His father once ran the Foundation like a mob organization, and Harlan was destined to be his heir.  There's a real possibility Harlan has returned to claim his inheritance. 
 
For now, however, it's a case of the enemy of my enemy is my friend because others are after the secrets of the long-lost lab. Unfortunately for Olivia, the one thing friend and foe have in common is that everyone is convinced she is the key. Her unique psychic talent is required to defuse the ticking time bomb that is Vortex.
 
Neither trusts the other but Olivia and Harlan soon realize they must work together to survive and unlock the Bluestone Project's most dangerous secrets before more innocent people die.

_________________________________________________________________

Jayne Ann Krentz wraps up her Fogg Lake Trilogy (The Vanishing, All the Colors of the Night) with a thriller in Lightning in a Mirror. Harlan Rancourt is a powerful talent who passes as nondescript while hunting the monsters of the psychic world. Having disappeared for five years, he's back to help shut down the mysterious Vortex labs- but he's convinced he needs Olivia LeCLair to do that. Private investigator and aura reader, Olivia isn't sure what to make of Harlan, but he's promised to help find her mother's killer so she's willing to help. A series of kidnapping attempts makes it personal. Clearly many people believe Olivia is the key to to secret Vortex labs, even though Olivia herself doesn't. In a race against time Harlan and Olivia must work together to stop a dangerous psychic secret and the people who want to control it before innocent people die.

Olivia is a classic modern woman- tough enough to handle being bait for a serial killer, trying to find the efficient way to weed out the dating losers, and thinking a cat may be the better option when she meets Harlan. He's a bit of a challenge, a bit of a pain in the neck, and a bit clueless in social situations- but exactly the right guy to have at your side when people try to kidnap you or kill you. When he doesn't bother giving her the 'everything will be ok' line after an explosion, she thinks he might have potential. A forthright heroine, a strong-when-working-slightly-unsure-otherwise hero, many spinning plots within plots to get to the center of the conspiracy- this is a plot and character Krentz ties together well and will satisfy all.

Lightning in a Mirror is fast paced and action packed, with plenty of Krentz's dry wit and one liners. Readers new to her books won't need to have read the rest of the series, although it does help. Long time readers will be glad to get a few Easter eggs dropped along the way, particularly at the end as Harlan convinces Victor and Lucas of the Foundation that they should work more with other secretive psychic organizations out there, like a certain Jones & Jones agency . . .