Rising Darkness

Harrison (Lord's Fall) skews almost every mythic narrative to construct this ambitious beginning of her Game of Shadows paranormal romance series. Divorced ER physician Mary Katherine Byrne has always had dreams of mated pairs of color-shifting creatures who drink a sacred poison and conflict with an escaped criminal being, the Deceiver. When sinister kidnappers threaten her, she's saved by Michael, one of the alien beings of fire and light. Michael has taken human form to battle the Deceiver, who has already destroyed four of the original visitors from space. Only four aliens are left, and Michael's been seeking his lost soul mate%E2%80%94Mary, of course%E2%80%94for centuries. Besides treading close to sacrilege in the mating of figures suggesting Michael the Archangel and the Virgin Mary, Harrison posits a Deceiver who targets Mary for himself, slaughters humans to pilot their bodies, and plots to take over the White House. The result is an everything-but-the-kitchen-sink melange of twisted history and myth, bosom-heaving chases, athletic bedroom scenes, and an inevitable promise of much more of the same to come. (Apr.)