After "Spook Squad" (PsyCop #7), I didn't expect another full novel featuring Vic Bayne. Spook Squad ended on the kind of note that usually says to me the series is finished. We started Vic's journey with the first book, watched him grow and mature, and finally appear to shed his old demons and reach a level of stability in Spook Squad that showed he's ready to embrace his place in the world. Imagine my surprise when I belatedly checked my email and saw that "Agent Bayne" had been released! I was gobsmacked, and the book was purchased and downloaded in minutes. It does NOT disappoint!
Vic is more self-assured and in control than we've ever seen him before. But face it, it's Vic we're talking about. He's always going to be a bit of a basket case about some things. And as far as he's come, he's now realizing that there's so much he still doesn't know. He's left his job as Psycop Detective at the Fifth Precinct and is now working for the Federal Psychic Monitoring Program (the Federal agency that looks over psychics to make sure they're not being taken advantage of for nefarious purposes). He's got first-day jitters, but tells himself that he's a good medium and can handle cleansing the facility, communing with the deceased, and doing all of the things he's been doing for years now. Except that his first assignment is to come up with a testing protocol to find the medium ability in others. He's taken his ability for granted for so long, he has no clue how to test it in others, especially if those people don't even know they have the ability themselves. And to make matters worse, he's teamed up with a medium from his past, and their relationship was antagonistic at best.
And then agents start dying.
We have a wonderfully engrossing story featuring Vic and Jacob with appearances from many characters in the previous books. The world-building is superb. The psychic phenomena follows the established rules set forth in the previous books, with some new information added to expand on what we already know. It was refreshing in that we know how powerful Vic is, but we get to see him working with someone who, while they don't have the pure raw talent level Vic does, is experienced in different techniques and can do things he never thought possible. The pacing is perfect, the dialog is natural, and the characters are all well-developed.
Psycop has always been one of my favorite series, and this book seamlessly carries on the tale. I'm so happy that I was wrong and that the series is continuing.
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AJ
Hope I don't have to wait too long for book 10!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 17, 2018