White Lies [Hardcover]

Jayne Anne Krentz has taken her alter egos Amanda Quick and Jayne Castle and mixed the styles into a new Contemporary novel. The Arcane Society first presented in the Amanda Quick series has been brought to the present. The powers of the sensitives is remenisent of the powers in her St Helens Trilogy. They work very well togather and give us an interesting read.

Clare Lancaster is the illigetimate daughter of a real estate magnate. She became intimate with her biological relatives about 8 months ago. An e-mail from her sister brought her to Arizona to help Elizabeth escape an abusive husband. It seems the Glazebrooke family are members of the Arcane Society which measures the psychic power of the members. Clare and her mother are also members. Clare is a 10 on the psychic scale and can tell if you are telling a lie she is considered an exotic because of her power and abilities.
She is a human lie detector.

Jake Salter is an undercover agent for J&J (Jones & Jones)Detective agency. The Agency works to protect sensitives and root out any evil cabels that might form. He is working for Clare's dad. When Elizabeth's husband was shot and killed 6 months ago the clairvoyants at the Society found no connection to the Cabel that Jake is hunting. Jake is a 10 on the psychic scale an exotic with hunter powers.

Now Jake realizes he has been deliberately led down the wrong paths. Clare and Jake are very attracted to each other and the term running hot really means their powers mesh and open each other up to more sensitive revelations. Since Clare can tell if he is lying Jake decides to ask for her help on the investigation.

Almost immediately Clare has two close calls. She finally admits to Jake that she thinks Brad, Elizabeth's husband intended to murder her the night he was killed. Clare has thought this ever since she was the one to find him. Coming back to Arizona has just opened up the bag again. Now both Jake and Clare know there is someone who knows the truth and they have to find them first.

I enjoyed the book, it reminded me very much of an Amanda Quick book. I did like it and I would want to read it but I'm not sure I would pay $25 for it.

I have been a fan of Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick for years. I like her so much, I switched from paperbacks to hardbacks. I ordered this recently (from Amazon which has no parking problems) and it finally arrived. I stayed up all last night reading it which means I was not very productive at work today (please don't tell my manager).

Jayne Ann Krentz has frequently included a psychic element in her novels. She has written a whole series of futuristic novels where everyone on a strange planet, descendants of settlers from Earth, develops paranormal abilities. These are fun...if you like this novel, check them out.

The Arcane Society is a group of people (on Earth) with psychic or paranormal abilities. Her first Arcane Society novel was a historical romance involving the early Jones family members. This is her second and it takes place in current times.

Clare Lancaster lives in San Francisco. She was raised by her mother and her great-aunt. The outcome of a one-night stand, she never knew her father. Her mother is a member of the Arcane Society -- her psychic ability is with numbers. At the age of 13, Clare wakes up one morning and discovers that her psychic ability is detecting lies and she is way off the charts when the Arcane Society tests her. Most human lie detectors can't take the continual barrage of lies and end up as addicts, in insane asylums, or committing suicide. They have a bad stability reputation.

But with the early help of an Arcane Society therapist, Clare has learned to cope very well. She has become emotionally strong and offbeat and gutsy. She has developed an unusual philosophy about lying.

Everything was going pretty well for her. The only fly in her ointment was she could not get a desirable job at the prestigous Jones&Jones Arcane Society detective agency because the "Dumbass", Clare's name for the head of the agency, firmly believed psychics with the lie detector ability are unstable, but nevertheless she was doing enjoyable work at charitable foundations detecting [..] artists applying for funding.

Then 6 months ago, she received an email for help from her half-sister, Elizabeth. After helping Elizabeth escape from a bad marriage and stumbling over the dead body of Brad McAllister, Elizabeth's soon to be ex, Clare's life takes a downturn. She gets fired from her job and can't find another (someone is bad mouthing her); her fiance drops her like a hot potato; the police in Arizona (where Elizabeth lives with her very wealthy father -- who happens to be Clare's father too) suspect that Clare killed Brad and only the intervention of her powerful father, Archer Glazebrook, keeps her from being arrested.

Now she is back in Arizona, staying a cheap (but clean) motel, because her father has asked her to come back. He has been keeping track of her since he found out about her and knows she has not been able to find work. He has a proposal for her: he wants to make her the head of a charitable foundation he intends to set up. Clare's not too thrilled with this proposal and neither are other members of her half family.

At a party at Archer's house, Clare meets Jake Salter, a consultant working for Glazebrook. She knows he is lying about something but it's a white lie and not an ultraviolet lie, so she's not too worried about continuing the relationship -- there is instant mutual attaction between them.

Strange things related to the Arcane Society are happening in Stone Canyon, Arizona. Her first full day in Arizona, someone tries to run over Clare with an SUV in a parking lot. Her second day in Arizona, someone tries to bash in Clare's head with an 8 pound dumbbell at a spa. Clare decides to confront her suspect (Brad's mother) and instead finds another dead body (Brad's mother). The Arizona police have not forgotten that Clare found Brad's body.

Feisty Clare decides she is going to investigate Brad's unsolved murder because all her troubles started when she found his body. Jake decides he had better help her to keep her out of trouble. Naturally that also involves moving Clare from her cheap (but clean) motel into his expensive (but clean) home and his bed.

Jake is really a detective from J&J, a psychic hunter, investigating a new Arcane Society cabal. It soon becomes evident that Clare's case and his case are related.

I like the characters of both Jake and Clare. I am eagerly awaiting the next Arcane Society novel. I want to find out what happens, romantically, to the hermit-like Fallon Jones, head of J&J (aka Clare's Dumbass).

Clare Lancaster is a parasensitive, but unlike most, she off the charts sensitive, and has the special ability to tell when someone is lying to her. This makes most people very uneasy because not even fellow parasensitives are able to escape her ability. When she finally meets her father Archer Glazebrooke that has been absent for her entire life, they have a very tenuous relationship. Unlike the rest of her new family, she and Elizabeth immediately connected. Clare even helped Elizabeth get out of an abusive relationship with her husband who suddenly and conveniently was killed. Clare was accused of the murder, but they did not have enough evidence against her to prosecute.

Jake Salter is an investigator for the Archane Society. His special skills have been requested by Archer to find out if a group working outside the rules of the society are trying to get the founders formula to enhance a parasensitives ability. When Jake and Clare meet, they are attracted to one another, but Clare immediately knows Jake is hiding something. Attempts are made on Clare's life and she once again finds herself stumbling upon a dead body, so Jake takes it upon himself to be her protector.

This book was barely tolerable! There was so much background on the Archane Society, that it became monotonous and boring. Maybe some of this information should have been included in the first book, so that it didn't overwhelm the reader. I also felt no real chemistry or genuine feelings between Jake and Clare. What was there was contrived and forced.