Proof of Life: A Beyond the Veil Mystery

In the prologue of Lowe’s so-so second paranormal mystery featuring Jessica Mack (after 2014’s What She Saw), Jessica is killed, along with her three-year-old son, Justin, when the car driven by her husband crashes. Fortunately, her spirit encounters “a majestic Being... dressed in pure white robes and bathed in golden light as bright as the sun,” who informs her that she needs to return to Earth. Despite her pain at being separated from Justin, Jessica agrees. After she awakens from a two-week coma in Ventura, Calif., she begins to hear dead people. Five years later, such voices provide her with information that she shares with FBI agent Zach Smith, a possible love interest whose boss is her identical twin’s husband. After Jessica leads Zach to the body of a murder victim, he takes her visions seriously, but Jessica gets her strongest test when she tries to use her powers to find a missing four-year-old who’s feared dead. Mediocre prose and thin characterizations won’t make it easy for nonbelievers to accept the book’s premise. Even readers open to a psychic lead may struggle to engage with this one. (May)