Hieber (The Double Life of Incorporate Things) kicks off her new Victorian fantasy series with this atmospheric but unfocused cloak-and-dagger affair in which rival agencies search for the cure to death. Following the unfortunate demise of an American team researching the so-called Eterna Compound, which promises immortality, teams from both sides of the Atlantic engage in ethereal espionage and spectral skullduggery. Representing America: psychic Clara Templeton, instrumental in the project's origins. For England: police officer Harold Spire, newly appointed director of Special Branch: Division Omega. There's also a motley crew of spies, mediums, and scholars. But as both teams track down leads, a gruesomely ruthless third faction seems ready to beat them to the prize. Hieber takes a leisurely approach to the story: neither primary group ever encounters the other, and a diagram is needed to keep the sprawling cast organized. This initial entry is mostly set-up, leading to a frustrating cliffhanger with very little resolved or explained, but Hieber has a knack for creating authentic Victorian atmosphere and colorful personalities that will keep readers coming back for more. Agent: Nicholas Roman Lewis, The Roman Group (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Rival teams in Victorian-era London and New York are searching for the secret to eternal life. In London, Harold Spire has been plucked from the police force to lead a new team after the last group disappeared without a trace. He works with Rose Everheart, a researcher more open to the possibility that supernatural forces exist in the world. In America, Clara Templeton drove the U.S. hunt for the eterna compound after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and hopes to use her ability to see spirits to help the cause. VERDICT Hieber (Strangely Beautiful) has a good feel for her time period, and the premise of Victorian spies certainly has appeal. But as is always a danger when running parallel story lines, the author fails to make the characters stand out enough from each other or the story compelling enough to keep the plights of the American and British teams from blurring together. (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A corseted heroine and determined detective battle the supernatural and each other to find a formula promising either eternal life or instant death.The deaths and disappearances of magical researchers in England and the U.S. spur intrigue in the latest melodramatic gothic fantasy from Hieber (The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart, 2012, etc.). Both nations are on the hunt for immortality, and high-society Manhattanite and "sensitive" Clara Templeton and London Metropolitan policeman Harold Spire lead the chase in this hyperventilating version of the 1880s. Spiritualist Clara must find out who killed her team of Eterna Project researchers, including her secret lover, who is now a loitering spirit. "You're at the center of the storm. Be worthy of the squall," another ghostly visitor urges Clara as she bows under the weight of sorrow in one of the finest lines of this richly embellished novel. Spire tries to reconcile his desire to uncover the demonic cult infiltrating all levels of English society with the call to patriotic duty from Queen Victoria, who demands that he steal for England the Eterna team's purported solution to untimely death. As the narrative crisscrosses the Atlantic, each covert operation builds up a ragtag team of quirky characters. In a story juggling many elements and many perspectives, the teams' purposes bubble up slowly, and their adventuresome trials are both vague and baggy. While Hieber carves out a chillingly reimagined Gilded Age in careful detail, the motivations of the host of characters do not convince. An abrupt ending leaves the reader assuming there will be a sequel to sort out the jumble. Gloomy froth for the teen goth enamored of petticoats and sances. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.