Blood of the Sun

The suspenseful third supernatural thriller in Rabarts and Murray’s Path of Ra series (after Teeth of the Wolf) sees Penny Yee, a scientific consultant to the Auckland, New Zealand, police, and her ne’er-do-well brother, Matiu, face off against gang violence, cults, and a mystical family reunion. After a massacre on Freyberg wharf, the police call in Penny to help piece together evidence from a slew of hacked-up bodies. Meanwhile, Matiu can sense that the Māori gods are growing restless, urging him to realize his inheritance as a demigod. But between meeting with his parole officer and becoming embroiled in a sun-worshipping cult, Matiu has too many mortal worries to join his long-lost family in their supernatural battle. The threads of the siblings’ disparate plots weave together much more tightly than it first appears. Rabarts and Murray write with characteristic verve, injecting the noir atmosphere with dark humor. Series readers will find much to enjoy. (Nov.)