"A story filled with adventure"

COVENANTS is the prequel to Down Came A Blackbird. In DOWN CAME A BLACKBIRD, we met Cait and Kevin O'Keefe. COVENANTS is the story of how their parents marriage came about.

Bridget O'Keefe has just accepted a three-year contract with a medical clinic in the town of Lacrimas. Her boss, Debbie, came from Lacrimas and heard about the position opening and helped Bridget get the job.

As soon as Bridget gets off the plane, she was met by Kurt Walker. Kurt has a lot of money, power and influence and he built the clinic. He rushes Bridget through the security and whisks her away to the grand opening celebration. She is introduced to Lucinda, who will be her physician's assistant at the clinic. Bridget has never been comfortable around crowds and is anxious to leave; so Lucinda arranges for Bridget to leave the party. On their way out the door, they run into Lilith, one of the Harkers, the family which owns most of the land in this area for generations. Lilith has a dog with her and makes a gift of it to Bridget. Kurt tells Bridget that the Harkers train them and sell dogs for quite a bit of money. Kurt and Bridget make a deal to become friends. He takes her to the clinic and her home, which is one building.

Bridget and Lilith become friends and Bridget begins hearing strange things about the Harkers. Kurt has been trying to win Lilith's friendship for years, but she always turns him down as she doesn't trust Kurt.

One night, there's a flood and a bridge has collapsed. Kurt comes around and collects Bridget in his helicopter. Lilith shows up with a relative who is totally covered by his jacket and has the hood pulled forward so his face can't be seen. Lucinda's youngest daughter, Maellen, was on the bridge that collapsed. Well, it turns out that Maellen was saved by another Harker, Shiloh. Shiloh and Maellen do the natural thing when faced with a near death experience and Maellen ends up becoming pregnant as a result. Lilith and Bridget become even closer friends. Lilith explains to Bridget that she is a telepath, which is why she feels so uncomfortable around crowds of people.

Bridget feels a bond with Shiloh. Nathaniel also shows up at Bridget's house at night and he won't allow Bridget to turn on any lights. He tells her that he is different, but won't explain any further. He begins to tell Bridget stories about his family and Bridget can tell that he is storyteller of the clan. Bridget begins to understand more and more about the Harkers. She is not repulsed by what she learns and she is bonding more and more to Nathaniel.

When Bridget gets a blood sample from Shiloh to reassure Maellen about her baby, all the problems start. Bridget sends the sample off to Debbie, who runs all kinds of tests on it and finds some strange DNA. Now the fun begins when one of Debbie's workers breaks her security and gets access to the sample.

This is a different story than DOWN CAME A BLACKBIRD. That was all about space travel and flight training. COVENANTS takes place on earth in the swamplands. Along with Bridget, we learn about the Sidhe and their traditions and way of life. Bridget learns this information in bits and pieces from many different sources. This story deals more with the history of the Sidhe and how they managed to make their way on our planet by making COVENANTS with their neighbors when they helped them out. These were all oral promises that were made by people of the community to the Harkers. The COVENANTS were handed down through the generations and were always honored. This story is also filled with adventure and plenty of it, right down to an emergency surgery on Shelley and Nathaniel. This is definitely a story I recommend reading.

Reviewed by Chere Gruver
Posted January 6, 2004

Summary

BRIDGET O'KEEFE has her entire life planned down to the last detail. She'll complete a three-year contract with the small town of Lacrimas, North Carolina and wipe out the enormous school debts she incurred to become a physician. Afterwards, she'll have her pick of any genetics lab in the country for full time research. She doesn't need any personal entanglements with the Harkers, a strange and reclusive family who own a thirty-mile section of swampland near Lacrimas.

Little by little, they pull her into their lives and into a mystery that stretches back to the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island and the mists of prehistory where myths and legends walked hand in hand with humanity.