The Forgotten

Written by Heather Graham

Narrated by Phil Gigante

Murdered by a dead man?

A woman named Maria Gomez is murdered in Miami, apparently by her husband—who'd been presumed dead, slain by a crime boss. FBI agent Brett Cody can't believe it; dead or alive, the man had loved his wife. He also can't help feeling guilty, since he was responsible for protecting Miguel and Maria Gomez.

A few miles away, Lara Mayhew has just begun working at a dolphin research facility. She loves her new job—until a dolphin brings her something unexpected from the deep. A human hand. More body parts show up, and when Brett looks into the situation, he discovers that the dismembered corpse is Miguel's.

Soon, rumors of crazed zombies abound in the Miami media, and the Krewe of Hunters, an elite FBI unit of paranormal investigators, is called in. Brett and Lara find themselves working with the Krewe—and working closely together. An elderly crime boss who's losing his memory seems to be key to solving this case, but…there's no motive. Unless Brett and Lara can uncover one in the Miami underworld. And that means they have to protect themselves. And each other.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Jul 28, 2015
• ISBN: 9781491505168

Heather Graham

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Heather Graham has written more than a hundred novels. She's a winner of the RWA's Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Thriller Writers' Silver Bullet. She is an active member of International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America. For more information, check out her websites: TheOriginalHeatherGraham.com, eHeatherGraham.com, and HeatherGraham.tv. You can also find Heather on Facebook.

Reviews for The Forgotten

[NNEAMAKA PAYNE · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It began with Lara Ainsworth with her new job, right in Florida with the Sea Life. It is an organization that works with dolphins and carries out research on these aquatic animals to better know them and how they communicate. While she was taking one dolphin out in the sea to swimming and teaching them some lessons, they used for entertaining their customers. The dolphin came up with a human hand and they did not pay any attention until the second finger came up with the same dolphin. It was then that they called the police while the investigation is going on. There was a killing of another woman and the word that went around was that it was the husband that came from the death to kill his wife.
It was then that the Federal Bureau of Investigation came into the case because they had been working on taking down one of the crime families. That is within Miami and the rest of the Florida coastal region. This crime is looking like something out of the movies. The dead person coming back to life to kill some other person and then returning to bean death. Lara Ainsworth saw the ghost of Miguel Gomez, who was murdered and his body recovered by the Dolphin. Now agent Diego and Brett are coming to an understanding of who Lara is and discovering her past and the reason she is now living and working in the state of Florida. She now has become another aspect of this recent case, and she is quickly becoming a target. Because of the discovering of the body's parts of those who have been victims in the killings.
Her husband—who'd been presumed dead, slain by a crime boss, murdered a woman named Maria Gomez in Miami, apparently. FBI agent Brett Cody can't believe it; dead or alive, the man had loved his wife. He also can't help feeling guilty, since he protected Miguel and Maria Gomez. A few miles away, Lara Mayhew has just begun working at a dolphin research facility. She loves her new job—until a dolphin brings her something unexpected from the deep. A human hand. More body parts show up, and when Brett looks into the situation, he discovers that the dismembered corpse is Miguel's.
Soon, rumors of crazed zombies abound in the Miami media, and the Krewe of Hunters, an elite FBI unit of paranormal investigators, are called in. Brett and Lara work with the Krewe—and work closely together. An elderly crime boss who's losing his memory seems to be key to solving this case, but… there's no motive. Unless Brett and Lara can uncover one in the Miami underworld. And that means they have to protect themselves. And each other.
"The Forgotten," the latest installment of Heather Graham's Krewe of Hunters series, brings us to Miami when a man comes home...and kills his wife. Agent Brett Cody, who'd known the dead man, takes the wife's murder to heart and vows to find out the truth about why Maria Gomez was killed. Meanwhile, Lara Mayhew has come to a dolphin sanctuary in Miami for a new start. And her new life begins with a bang when one of the sanctuary's dolphins brings her a present: a dead man's finger. So begins a long, twisting road involving zombies, mob bosses, and marine animals. Oh my.
One thing I love most about Graham's writing is out full-force in "The Forgotten." I love the way Graham immerses the story in the setting. The place informed everything about the story, by the history, by the culture, which helps bring a bit of believability to the paranormal side of her stories. She brings that to Miami, and Miami's Haitian population, and the history of Papa Doc and his alleged zombie army. Graham always makes me want to go on a history spiral, hitting up books and the internet to find out more, and this is no different.
However, the rest of the book felt flat. It didn't feel like a Krewe of Hunter's book, and I don't know if it's because I haven't yet read the last book in the series (which is heavily connected to this one). However, the ghostly element just didn't feel there. There were a couple of perfunctory "Oh look, I'm talking to a ghost" scenes, but it felt like they were there because they were expected to be there and didn't add much to the story. Same for the romance. It felt like halfway through, Graham remembered "Oh, right. The love story. Here you go" and tossed it in there.
The Forgotten by Heather Graham is the 16th adventure in this exciting Krewe Hunter series! I was thrilled to read this book. The cover was intriguing. The cast of memorable characters from previous books was included (which is always the best part) and new characters were introduced. In this story, I was in Florida exploring how the dead and recent dead victims came back alive. The scenes were vivid and full of risks. Every step the characters took, there was danger waiting for them to make a mistake. One wrong step or calculation and the good guys would be ending up along with the other victims.
Danger was everywhere. It was dark. I was on the edge of my seat with this read. I couldn't fathom who the murder(s) were. So, they ruled the prime suspects out for various reasons. This made the guessing harder.
If you love the water as much as I do and interacting with animals, this read is also for you! One of the principal places where a dead man's body parts are found to be inside a dolphin's tank. This dolphin played a key role in helping the Krewe Hunters, FBI agents, and the local police catch the bad guys. One special woman whose past was as horrible as the gruesome murders are once again put into danger. Her life hangs in the air.
Once again, I entertained Heather Graham's latest novel. I cannot get enough of this Krewe Hunter series! Each member has a unique flavor they add to the stories and to the series. Heather Graham made sure each person had something special to contribute to the newly formed FBI unit, The Krewe Hunters. This is one romantic suspense I highly recommend to all.
The book was still quite enjoyable, but it's not one that I'm going to pick up and reread again (unlike Sacred Evil, The Hexed, and The Betrayed). It's not one of Graham's strongest offerings, but it's a solid read.

[grumpydan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A woman is murdered possible by her dead husband. Then a dolphin brings up human body parts from the ocean bottom. Zombies (but not like those in recent movies) and dolphins are two things I enjoy. I also enjoy reading novels by Heather Graham, but don’t recall reading any of the Krewe of Hunters before. I am not really into paranormal stories so wasn’t sure what to expect. I was a good read with enough going on to make this reader wonder what was happening, but I also felt that it was written to get out into the market without fleshing out the characters (I couldn’t get into them) or cleaning it up I found myself drifting occasionally.