Power Game

Lucky number 13 in Feehan’s contemporary paranormal romance Ghostwalker series (after Spider Game) is packed with heart-pounding action and toe-curling heat. Set in the heart of Louisiana’s swamps, the steamy love story pairs up a bioengineered killer with a physically and psychically augmented super soldier. The evil Dr. Whitney experiments on infant girls, enhancing and training them to be perfect spies and assassins. When one of his success stories, Bellisia, goes on an assignment that brings her up against an adversary of the enhanced soldiers known as the Ghostwalkers, her protective instincts kick in and she decides to save them all. Darkly brooding and rather bossy Zeke, one of the soldiers, will also do anything to guard those he calls family, something that utterly captivates the orphaned Bella. The detailed, engrossing narrative is coupled with an in-depth look at the community being created in the bayou, but too much emphasis on past events and distracting repetition bog down an otherwise exceptional novel. Agent: Steven Axelrod, Axelrod Agency. (Jan.)