The plot, as well as all of the dramatic and romantic tensions, thickens in Healer, the third book in J.S. Lenore’s paranormal mystery series.

Ghost-busting detectives Kim Philips and Riley Cross have seen their fair share of things they can’t explain. They’ve dealt with uncontrollable, malevolent ghosts and unpredictable energy sources before, but none have been as mysterious or dangerous as the ones they’re facing on their first official case as partners.

This on top of the fact that both Kim and Riley are struggling to understand their newfound affinities and abilities, not to mention the growing palpable chemistry between each other.

When costly mistakes are made and a malicious ghost threatens to cause more than just a disturbance, Kim and Riley must use everything in their arsenal to try to stop dark forces from invading our world.

The first thing you may notice in my mini synopsis of Healer above is the emphasis on the series’ two main protagonists, Kim Philips and Riley Cross. That’s intentional.

While every novel technically belongs to the characters that drive it, Healer is almost exclusively focused on its heroes, both in terms of their actions as well as their character development. It’s not the book’s murder or even the series’ central conflict that moves Healer forward. It’s Kim and Riley.

In fact, this book really only takes place over a matter of days, if not a single week, but the characters’ many interactions, contemplations, and developments never made it feel like it was stalling or moving too slowly. Healer takes extra special care to crawl inside the minds and thoughts of all of its main characters (not just Kim), exposing their fears, insecurities, and desires. Yes, there’s action, and yes, there are quite a few fascinating developments in the series-long mystery, but the focus of this novel is very much the progression of its heroes.

But, of course, progression doesn’t happen without making a few mistakes along the way. And boy do bad decisions abound in this book.

Perhaps the best and most interesting aspect of this focus is the way in which the author exposes the heroes’ fallibility. Whether or not we realize it, in almost all of the books we read, the mental gymnastics and risky decisions the main characters make always tend to work out. Not only that, but their assumptions and theories always turn out to be correct, even if they just happened upon them by accident.

This is far from the case in Healer. This installment in the Affinity Series isn’t afraid to take our heroes down a notch. To show that they’re not perfect, make mistakes, and are completely wrong about some things, and then taking it a step further and focusing quite a bit on the outcome of those mistakes. In fact, the book goes as far to call Kim out on just how wrong she is pretty frequently. Rash assumptions made in previous novels are proved wrong, with the consequences of those mistakes have quite a negative impact on our heroes.

Though it’s almost inarguable that Kim is the best person to solve the larger mystery and tackle the darkness that’s careening toward this version of Chicago from the afterlife, it’s refreshing to see Kim make very real mistakes with very large consequences. Not only that, but it’s great to see her work to readjust and move forward while accepting that she must reap what she has sewn.

There’s power in being wrong and realizing it, but not giving up.

There’s at least one thing Kim and Riley get 100% right in this novel, and that’s their approach to their romantic tension and insane chemistry. I’d be remiss to neglect mentioning the tension between Kim and Riley in my review because it’s SO good. Their chemistry leaps off of the page and continues the wonderful slow build that was set in motion way back in the first book. Their conversations and reactions are incredibly realistic yet gratifying. Not only that, but it’s refreshing to see two adult fictional characters be direct and honest with each other while still harboring the inevitable doubts and insecurities that come with having more-than-platonic feelings for another human being.

As a Kim/Riley fan, I was more than satisfied with the way their relationship develops in Healer. Though they’re foils of each other in many ways, especially when it comes to their profession and work habits, they complement each other in a way that’s magical to envision. There are quite a few delicious slow burn moments in this book that will be sure to please fans while also leaving them wanting more.

When it comes to story structure and focus, Healer is much more similar to Burner, the first book in the series, than Reader. There’s a self-contained mystery that’s specific to this book, sure, but it’s not one that can be easily solved in this novel. In fact, it goes largely unsolved but provides necessary answers (as well as more leading questions) for the series’ overarching mystery instead.

Though I really enjoyed the non-supernatural bottle mystery in Reader, Healer’s mystery is satisfying in the way in which it builds out the world we as readers already thought we knew the boundaries, parameters, and rules of. Healer is a solid third novel in that it expertly marries all that has come and been postulated about previously with the potential of twists, turns, and developments to come in the future.

Healer feels very much like a middle novel of a series, but in the best way possible. It does more than its fair share of heavy lifting when it comes to the mythology of this world and the fleshing out of the central mystery. Though there are a few resolutions that occur, this novel poses more questions than answers. Questions I can’t wait to see explored in future novels.

Fans of J.S. Lenore’s Affinity Series won’t be able to help themselves from speeding though Healer. It’s an engrossing read from start to finish and it really sets the tone and atmosphere for the books to come.

Healer (Book Three of the Affinity Series) by J.S. Lenore is available now from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Also, don’t forget to add it to your Goodreads “to read” list!