Black Fall by Andrew Mayne

Author: Andrew Mayne
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Date of publication: March 2017

With two big cases under her belt, FBI Agent Jessica Blackwood is learning to embrace her unconventional past as the rising star in a family dynasty of illusionists. Her talent and experience endow her with a unique understanding of the power and potential of deception, and a gift for knowing when things are not always as they appear to be. Once resenting her eccentric grandfather, a brilliant magician in his own right, Jessica now sees him as a mentor and regularly seeks his advice about her work.

But Jessica’s routine surveillance operation becomes a fight for survival when a disturbed young woman, clutching a baby, shows up at the stake-out location and threatens to kill her child. On the same day, an hour after a severe earthquake rocks the eastern seaboard, a strange video goes viral. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Peter Devon has been dead for eight years, yet here he is on camera, predicting the location and date of the earthquake. Jessica is put on the case by her boss, Dr. Ailes, but when Detective Aileen Lewis reports that they’ve found a Jane Doe who matches her description of her attacker, she’s torn between professional duty and a personal desire to find out who the woman was, and why she was killed.

I have been reading this series from the beginning and was eagerly awaiting the next book featuring Jessica Blackwood.  Black Fall definitely didn't disappoint!  This time around, Jessica gets involved in a weird convoluted case involving catastrophic predictions from a dead man and riots on the streets of Washington DC.  That is just the tip of the iceberg.

What I have loved most about this series is Jessica.  She comes from a family of magicians and uses her knowledge and her experience to her advantage while solving cases.  She is also pretty tough and tends to want to do things her own way.  This ends up getting her in trouble more often than not. I felt like we got to know her a little more in this one.  I also got to know her fellow agents on her team more. They seem to be settling into a more comfortable "family". The only character that I wanted more of was Damian.  He barely shows up in this book. so I was a bit disappointed.

I'm not going to talk plot.  There are too many twists that given way would ruin the story.  I will say that there are a few tense scenes that had me on the edge of my seat.  Dark hallways and unknown noises will always give me the creeps. In the end, the author has managed to have me eagerly waiting the next book.  If you haven't picked up this series yet, definitely start with the first book Angel Killer.  I feel like you need that background before you go into Black Fall.