PANDORA'S GIFT

This third installment of a supernatural series focuses on an Englishwoman and her otherworldly connections.

In Mathews’ latest volume starring Pandora Armstrong (or Pandora Fry to some), the protagonist is appearing on TV. Pandora is a panelist a few days a week on a show called Straight Talking. She and her colleagues discuss topics of the day, explorations that occasionally spill into arguments. It seems like an easy enough gig, though if the ratings take a dive, the talent can immediately be replaced. But anxiety about getting fired is the least of the protagonist’s problems. Pandora, who can communicate with certain spirits and once ran a healing practice, is visited by an archangel called Cassiel. He explains to Pandora that she is pregnant with a very important child. The baby is a star seed, and “these star seeds are being sent to Earth to use their special abilities to help us out of the cycle of destruction we’re in.” While this might not sound too bad, Pandora’s partner, James Jay, will surely know the baby isn’t his. The earthly father is instead a well-to-do TV producer named Zac Willoughby, with whom Pandora shared a night of intimacy. Will Pandora be able to have her child in secret, patch things up with Jay afterward, and dodge any thorny questions from Zac? It’s a good thing she has an archangel on her side. It takes some pages to get to the rich details of Pandora’s quandary. Readers first must learn of Jay’s former band reuniting, financial hardships he and Pandoraare facing, and even where his children from a former marriage spend their weekends. Yet once Cassiel enters the picture, the tension becomes palpable. How will Jay and Zac ever understand any of this? Can all of those involved in this peculiar scheme be trusted to have the baby’s best interests at heart? Although some developments turn out to be dull, as when Cassiel and Pandora spend a night at the cinema, the overall fate of the star child keeps things in a constant state of taut motion.

While this tale’s buildup is slow, the protagonist’s predicament proves a gripping, dicey affair.