The Forgotten - Review

The Forgotten (Krewe of Hunters #16) by Heather Graham
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Source: NetGalley

Description:  A Woman named Maria Gomez is murdered in Miami, apparently by her husband - who'd been presumed dead, slain by a crime boss.  FBI agent Brett Cody can't believe it; dead or alive, the man had loved his wife.  He also can't help feeling guilty, since he was responsible for protecting Miguel and Maria Gomez.
A few miles away, Lara Mayhew has just begun working at a dolphin research facility.  She loves her new job - until a dolphin brings her something unexpected from the deep.  A human hand.  More body parts show up, and when Brett looks into the situation, he discovers that the dismembered corpse is Miguel's.
Soon, rumors of crazed zombies abound in the Miami media, and the Krewe of Hunters, an elite FBI unit of paranormal investigators,  is called in.  Brett and Lara find themselves working with the Krewe - and working closely together.  An elderly crime boss who's losing his memory seems to be key to solving this case, but there's no motive.  Unless Brett and Lara can uncover one in the Miami underworld.  And that means they have to protect themselves.  And each other.  (from Goodreads)

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Why I Picked This Book:  I always enjoy Heather Graham's books and a book with zombies seemed like a great way to start the Halloween season.

My Impression:  First my standard disclaimer about this series - it doesn't need to be read in order so don't let that big number 16 scare you.  The books are only loosely tied together by the basic FBI unit that investigate the crime.  Other than that they're stand alones.  And now for another disclaimer - this is the one exception to that rule.  This book features characters from The Silenced and I think it would make much more sense if you read The Silenced before starting this one.  Disclaimers over.

I wasn't sure what to expect going in to this one.  While I always enjoy Heather Graham's books I'm not a big fan of zombies - like at all.  I've watched one episode of The Walking Dead and that was the "look at the flowers" episode with the 2 girls and I haven't recovered.  I'll take ghosts and maybe a witch or two but am not crazy about zombies.  However, my friend Bea over at Bea's Book Nook kept telling me to read it and while she's lead me astray when it comes to BUYING books she's never done so when it comes to reading them.  And once again she was right.  This isn't the zombies who wander around wanting brains these are more the Papa Doc Haitian variety which to me was definitely creepier.  There were so many questions in this one and it made it really fun to watch it all unravel.  The why and how were fascinating and I really had no idea how it was going to play out until the end.  I loved the scenes at Sea Life with the dolphins and also enjoyed the dynamic between Brett and his partner Diego and I'm excited to see that Diego will be involved in the next Krewe book, The Hidden.

With all that positive I didn't enjoy this book as much as I have other books by Heather Graham.  Lara, while definitely a tough survivor, didn't have a huge amount of personality and I never felt really drawn into the story.  I had the same problem with Meg from The Silenced and she played a pretty big role in this book so that might have been part of the problem.

Overall, this wasn't a favorite.  The plot was fascinating and I couldn't wait to see how everything turned out but Lara and Meg were a little too flat for me to really feel like I connected with them.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?: Definitely!  I've got The Hidden coming up and I'm really looking forward to it.

Would I Recommend this Book?: I would definitely recommend this series and while this wasn't a favorite it was still an entertaining read.