Don’t Get Close

Vera Taggart, the heroine of this tense thriller from Miksa (13 Days to Die), shows enough promise as an FBI special agent trainee to get assigned to an almost 30-year-old cold case involving the Sons of Elijah, suicide bombers who believe they have been reincarnated multiple times over the centuries. When a bomb goes off in a Chicago restaurant, it appears the Sons of Elijah are back in business. Vera tracks down psychiatrist Seth Jacobson, one of whose patients, Sophie Whitestone, was once a member of the group. Vera undergoes hypnosis with Jacobson and discovers that she can possibly remember a past life in 13th-century France and that Sophie had a similar past life experience. Vera and her partner, special agent Joe Michelson, wind up in a race against time as the next potential target of the Sons of Elijah is a Department of Energy research lab, which, if bombed, could result in the loss of millions of lives. Chillingly realistic depictions of past-life memories help ground the over-the-top action. Readers will be eager to see what Miksa comes up with next. Agent: Elizabeth Winick Rubinstein, McIntosh & Otis. (Mar.)