BLOOD ECHO, the second installment in the Burning Girl series, is a hardcore thriller that pulls out all the stops and features one of the genre’s most unique protagonists. Imagine, if you will, the little girl from Stephen King's FIRESTARTER as a fully realized adult with endless powers, and you only will be scratching the surface of what Charlotte Rowe is all about.

With the exception of RAMSES THE DAMNED: The Passion of Cleopatra, which he co-wrote with his mother, Christopher Rice has aimed to emerge from the shadow of being Anne Rice’s son and stand alone as an established author. I believe he has fulfilled that goal with this series, which has given him a character and a subject matter that clearly stand apart from all the other work he has done. BLOOD ECHO is a fireball of a novel (pun intended) that is difficult to put down.

Charlotte is placed in a very precarious position. The superpower drug administered to her by Cole Graydon and his limitless organization gives her the ability to hunt predators and eliminate them. She is turned on to some of the most brutal serial killers wandering the U.S. and given enough intel to quickly infiltrate and destroy them. The problem Charlotte faces is that the people she works for are, at times, more nefarious than the monsters she is pursuing.

"This is a sleekly written thriller, and Charlotte Rowe is a complicated but likable heroine who readers will fall for instantly."

Burning Girl, aka Charlotte Rowe, has a new purpose and enjoys taking down the worst of the worst society has to offer. The first killer on her radar is Richard Davies, who seeks out and stalks women, usually sex workers, and then murders and skins them. He allegedly has claimed five victims in the past three years. Now, Charlotte dresses as a streetwalker and is placed directly in Davies’ territory.

Her confrontation with him goes as planned. After sustaining a tranquilizer dart to the leg, she wakes up hanging from a tree. Little does Davies know that this is exactly the position Charlotte had been hoping for. She takes care of him in typical Burning Girl fashion, which gives readers something to cheer about. Afterwards, Charlotte and Cole meet. He agrees to stand by his offer of discontinuing their joint project, Project Bluebird, if she does away with Dylan Cody, aka Noah Turlington.

Meanwhile, Charlotte is dealing with her complicated relationship with sheriff's deputy Luke Prescott. Luke is well aware of her mission, which can lead to some tension between them as they are usually on the same side but use different tactics to bring the guilty to justice. They even suspect Cole of placing evil characters in their path for the ultimate profit of his own organization.

Luke becomes suspicious of Jordy Clements, who he believes is behind a domestic terrorist network that is planning an attack on the U.S. Charlotte works with Luke to prove this and finds out that Cole may be at cross purposes with her over Jordy. I won't give away the reasons, but it makes for some seriously tense reading. When Luke is abducted, Charlotte will not let anyone or anything stand in the way of getting him back and taking down all the bad guys at the same time. The finale is a whopper and the stuff that makes for great suspense novels.

Christopher Rice has a real winner on his hands with the Burning Girl series, and BLOOD ECHO sets things up for the next stage of the story. This is a sleekly written thriller, and Charlotte Rowe is a complicated but likable heroine who readers will fall for instantly.