After Dark [Audiobook] [MP3 Audio] [Unabridged] (Audio CD)

After Dark was a great Off-World tale of Harmony, where earth travelers colonized and then were cut off from Earth connections when the "curtain" closed. (See Amaryllis, Zinnia and Orchard, books set on the same planet). A race of aliens once lived on the planet, leaving behind vast underground ruins, all protected by "trap" illusions. It takes a special sort of "detangler" to derazzle the traps that were known to fry people's minds. Lydia Smith is a detangler for an archaeologist team working in the eerie green glowing underground. When something goes wrong, Lydia finds herself without a job or a professional reputation. In comes Emmett London, who is tracking down lost antiques. He hires Lydia as a consultant. Alien ghosts and "traps" start haunting the couple left and right as it's obvious someone doesn't want the team to solve the riddle of the missing alien artifacts. Lydia and Emmett sizzle. This was one paranormal that was ahead of the pack.

This is Jayne Anne at her best. She is so fresh and has such power in her writing, much like her writing of about 10 years ago.

The characters are so strong and funny.

It is on this world that we meet Lydia Smith, a former paranormal archeologist whose past has left her "psychically crippled". Although she feels she is perfectly capable of carrying out her duties she has been blacklisted from her profession as unstable. Currently working at a bizarre museum reminiscent of Ripley's Believe It or Not; Lydia is hired by the very wealthy and powerful Emmett London to help him recover a stolen family artifact that was brought with his family from Earth centuries ago. It is during her investigation of the theft that Lydia comes under assault from unknown rogue psychics. Someone is trying to stop her from discovering the location of the antique at all costs.

The characters of AFTER DARK are interesting and entertaining and despite the sometimes awkward writing I found the book downright fun. I like more mystery than sex in my romance books and found just the right combination in this novel. Unfortunately in most romance novels, the relationship often overwhelms the storyline and throws all plot out the window. This plot did get a little complicated at times even for Ms. Castle to keep up with. The techno-speak created for the sci-fi scenario got a little heavy at times, but overall I found it an interesting diversion from the standard romance genre.