Book Reviews by Elizabeth A. White

Spoiler Alert: Key details from My Scorpio Soul are revealed in My Aries Secret.

It takes a lot of energy to save a soul. – Tempest McTierney

My Aries Secrets, the second book in author Claudia Hoag McGarry’s astrology themed thrillers, finds Tempest McTierney, the protagonist from My Scorpio Soul, released from prison and in the unlikely position of a reluctant “Dear Abby.”

Having herself dealt with a situation where another woman was threatening to destroy her family – in Tempest’s case a stalker infatuated with Tempest’s husband – and taken the matter into her own hands out of desperation, her stint in prison has turned her into something of a cult hero to desperate women with lost souls.

Haven Rodriguez, the latest lost soul to reach out to Tempest, finds her previously idyllic life shattered when her husband, Jerod, goes missing. Making matters worse, his disappearance occurred on the heels of Haven learning that he had been having an affair, and that the company he worked for was being criminally investigated for possibly running a Ponzi scheme.

Now, Haven is torn between the fear of never finding out what happened to him, and anger at the thought he may have run away with his mistress and/or the company’s money. She seeks guidance from Tempest to help her control the homicidal feelings she has toward a female neighbor she’s convinced knows where Jerod is – or actually had something to do with his disappearance. (more…)

“People can do nice things but it doesn’t mean they are nice people. Remember that.” – Tempest McTierney

Tempest McTierney certainly knows what she’s talking about, as it is a decidedly not nice person she and her family are dealing with in author Claudia Hoag McGarry’s debut novel, My Scorpio Soul.

Told in flashback from the prison cell where she’s been incarcerated for 10 years, Tempest recounts her family’s terrorization over a period of multiple years at the hands of a stalker.

Once a happily married woman with children on the cusp of college and a bright future of retirement and grandchildren ahead of her, My Scorpio Soul is the tale of the McTierney family’s descent into hell.

Initially, they believe the stalker is linked to a wrongful termination case Tempest’s husband won against the hospital he works for and where Tempest volunteers; someone resentful that the McTierneys “showed up” the hospital and made the board of directors “look bad.”

But as hang up calls become threatening letters, notes left on windshields evolve into sabotaged vehicles, and dead animals on the doorstep give way to actual home infiltration they realize their stalker’s obsession is something much more personal… and dangerous. That the reader knows – ostensibly – how the story turns out does nothing to take the edge off the sense of dread that builds relentlessly throughout Tempest’s recounting of events.

Between McGarry’s quick-take, diary entry style chapters and engaging premise, I literally could not put this book down and finished it in one sitting. My Scorpio Soul is a blunt look at the lengths a stalker will go to in effort to gain control over the target of their obsession, and the lengths one victim will resort to in effort to protect her family and preserve her sanity.