I haven't read this one yet; it's been on my Amazon wishlist & I just found it in the remainder stack at B&N. I will decide to keep or let go after I read it.

keeping; but I will find a copy if anyone's interested.

Mystery/supernatural

Here is an example of a combination of the mystery/supernatural genres that works, and I mean totally works. Once I picked it up I couldn't put it down except to sleep. Tropic of Night will have you thinking about what the nature of reality is; one of my favorite topics of reading and the author does a stunning job in this one. I VERY highly recommend this novel, but again with the following caveats: 1) if you want formulaic and cookie-cutter, don't pick this up. 2) if you want a straight-through mystery novel with straight line from beginning to end, you'll hate this one. 3) if you have no patience, don't want to think and want the author to do your work for you, this isn't the book for you. Trust me on this one...this is NOT your average mystery.
brief synopsis (although this is tough):
Jane Doe (her real name) faked her own death after she returned to Africa where she had gone to study magic & sorcery as an anthropology grad student. She changed her name and persona to that of Dolores Tuoey, whom Jane had met in Africa and somehow ended up with her papers after Dolores had died there. She, as Dolores, worked as a file clerk at a hospital, living low and managing to pull off her new identity with no problems. In her life as Jane (which is one-third of the storylines that eventually merge to produce this wonderful story), she had been an anthropology student, earning a PhD from Columbia University and marrying DeWitt Moore, a black poet and playwright, who had accompanied Jane to Africa.

The second part of the story (these are not in any order, but are interspersed throughout the book and merge back together at the end) is set in Miami, where Jane/Dolores is living, but focuses on a series of bizarre ritual slayings that police realize are the work of one person. The murderer selects pregnant women, kills them and also takes their unborn babies. The detective in charge is one Jimmy Paz, a Cuban-American man who sleeps around, doesn't want to settle down, has a mom who runs a successful Cuban restaurant and who is looked down on because of his skin color.

The third part of this novel is told through Jane's journals -- both in Siberia and in Africa. These tell the story of how Jane came to be involved in the study of sorcery. It tells of Marcel, one of her professor/lovers who spent years proving that magic & sorcery are not conjuring tricks and sleight-of-hand or rituals, but a technology of the brain that allows for the processing of an alternate reality. Fantastic stuff here if you're interested (which I am).

All three storylines merge and also added into the mix is the practice of Santeria, another topic which I find absolutely fascinating. I won't give away the show (which, sadly, so many reviewers have done!) because the getting there is the best part of the journey with this novel.

I must say, this is one of the better and more intelligent mysteries and novels that I have read this year and I am very happy to recommend it. Off to buy the next one!

RELEASE NOTES:

I have to scale back the number of books I'm moving & my husband has promised to replace anything I have to give up. So I offered books on Freecycle and got a taker for probably 2-3 truckloads. It's sad.