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The PsyCop series by Jordan Castillo Price features frazzled psychic medium Victor Bayne and his smokin'-hot boyfriend, Jacob Marks. Fifteen years ago, Victor studied at Heliotrope Station, one of the original residential psychic training programs in the U.S. The only thing he learned in that facility was how to be a better liar.

Now he's part of an elite PsyCop unit. Solving murders should be a snap when you can talk to the deceased. But since no one's ever given him a lucky break when they were alive, why would they start now?

This series was fairly popular among the members of the old AfterElton book forum, and I thought it deserved a mention here too. I really should do a complete re-read of the entire series before posting any detailed comments or reviews, but for those who are curious about the books, here's the complete listing of titles available at this time (seven novels/novellas and seven short stories).

To learn more about the series, visit


#0.1: Inside Out (Takes place before "Among the Living," but best to read it later) The first time Jacob saw Vic, he was covered in red.

#1: Among the Living What good is being a psychic detective if your murder victims aren't talking?

#1.1 Thaw

#2: Criss Cross Mysterious messages from Lisa lead Vic on a wild ride.

#2.1 Striking Sparks Andrew's got cold feet about his upcoming wedding. He figures a palm reading is just the ticket.

#2.2 Many Happy Returns It's the holiday season at SaverPlus, and customers have become incredibly demanding.

#2.3 Mind Reader

#3: Body & Soul Three missing people. No bodies. No ghosts. At least the case gets Vic out of an awkward family dinner.

#3.1: Stroke of Midnight For a PsyCop, missing out on festivities to process a crime scene is all in a day's (or night's) work.

#4: Secrets Is someone watching Vic's every move, or is he imagining things? Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

#5: Camp Hell Vic delves into his repressed memories of Camp Hell and dredges up more than he bargained for.

#6: GhosTV Lisa's gone missing, and Vic and Jacob head to PsyTrain for some answers.

#6.1: In the Dark Halloween is supposed to be fun.

#7: Spook Squad

I have to admit, I didn't care for this. I thought the world was sort of interesting and the cost of psychic powers was an interesting concept, but the story structure just annoyed me. And the author kept setting up rules for herself and then ignoring them when they became inconvenient.

The name Victor Bayne will have to go down in the record books as one of the most ridiculous, over the top 40's comic book character names ever. That alone almost put me off reading it.

Chris, does Victor's name have some connotations that I've missed? I never thought of it in the same light that you did. (It's funny how we all see things differently.)

Bayne=bane, something dangerous, foreboding. For a guy who talks to dead people.

Thanks for the explanation.

I have to say that I've seen some terrible, crazy, way-out names for characters in m/m books reviewed at JesseWave's site, which made me roll my eyes, and did not make me race to buy the books. LOL I never worried about Vic's name, but I can see that once it bothered you, it well might have turned you off the stories.

Aussie54 wrote: "Thanks for the explanation.

I have to say that I've seen some terrible, crazy, way-out names for characters in m/m books reviewed at JesseWave's site, which made me roll my eyes, and did not mak..."

Oh, I am not so easily put off that a name would do it. :)

I found the name utterly silly. I have this thing where I wonder where all the "Johns" and "Mikes" of the world go, since they don't appear in fiction, but it's just one of those things I laugh about.

No, it was the half-ass writing that killed this story for me. The author establishes rules and then breaks them in the same book.

Example: Book 1, she establishes that it's dangerous for Victor to drive because he has a hard time telling the difference between ghosts and real people. And that is fantastic detail work.

Then at the end of the book, Victor races across town at crazy speeds to rescue his BF. And there is no mention of ghosts or problems or safety or anything. The rule just got ignored because it was no longer convenient.

I'm so excited right now. PsyCop 7, Spook Squad is coming out on Aug 30!

Jax wrote: "I'm so excited right now. PsyCop 7, Spook Squad, is coming out on Aug 30!"

gasp - OMG! I can't wait!

I know some group members have read PsyCop 7 or will be reading it soon so I wanted to generate a little discussion here and see what other people thought.

I don't have a lot to say. I love these characters & this world & the writing of Ms Price, so that's all good and if you're at this point in the series, you know all that.

I had a few little niggles with this one that made it a 4-star vs. a 5-star read, though. We wrapped up some loose ends from previous books, solved some murders and saw how Jacob's transition to the FPMP is going, but I felt like there weren't any major revelations in this one. And even though Vic is still tense and paranoid (understandably), I didn't feel much real threat this time. Finally, Vic & Jacob are still going strong (this takes place not too long after GhosTV), but I would've liked more of the couple. This book is very plot-driven with almost no time for romance.

Also, this book required a lot of knowledge of previous books. Things were mentioned without any 'bringing-me-up-to-speed' details. My memory's just not that good. I kinda, sorta had a vague notion of the things mentioned, but I felt a little lost at times. I know it can seem odd for a character to think over past events to himself just so the reader can recall the incident, but I don't have this trouble when I read a new Harry Bosch book & there are, like, 18 of those!

So, overall, a very good installment of the series, but I missed some elements that I was hoping for. And it's such a long wait between books!

Jax - right on target. here are my thoughts from my Amazon review...

Poor Victor Bayne - ghosts are so complicated.

You really can't just plow into this book without reading the whole series. At number seven, we get some of the most complicated goings-on that Vic has ever had to deal with - exploiting his powers like never before, and also running the risk of revealing just how powerful he is to people who he wants to keep in the dark.

See? You have to read the others first.

This series, while it falls roughly into the m/m genre, and does indeed center on the now very solid relationship between Victor and his "stiff" boyfriend Jacob Marks, is more about ghosts and trust. That's right.

Victor is committed to the Chicago cops' "Psycop" program, in which he's a star (while hiding his real light under a bushel as it were). But Jacob has gotten himself promoted into the murky, government-backed psychic organization run by the Steve Jobs-like Constantine. Vic doesn't trust anyone but Jacob, and he really doesn't want anyone to fully understand how powerful a psychic he is...but everything in the previous books that's led him to this point in his psychic development begins to shift underneath him. New truths - new connections with people - begin to erode his notions and make him question his own motives.

I know people can complain about these books...there is some sloppiness in the narrative consistency...and in this volume, "Spook Squad," the complexity of the psychic activity is so high that I found myself getting lost in the procedures...but I also really enjoyed the characters, who become more complex and interesting even as Victor begins to realize that he might just be fooling himself.

This book satisfied me pretty well - and that's good because #8 won't be for a long time.

I read Spook Squad last week, and I'll agree with the general tone of the preceding reviews. That is, I found the story a pleasant diversion, but at the same time it seemed to be missing an indefinable "something" that would have caused me to be a bit more enthusiastic about it.

Oh, no mistake, I do enjoy the PsyCop books. But I did myself a huge disservice by reading this latest entry in the series without first re-reading GhosTV , the previous volume. Because Spook Squad is a direct continuation of GhosTV , and you HAVE to know what's going on to make any sense of the new book.

Well, I have an extremely poor memory, and my vague recollection of the earlier volume meant that some of the time I was a bit fuzzy as to exactly what was happening in the new story.

Also, I was hoping for just a little more relationship-oriented content. These two men are a solid couple by now, but I'd still like to see a greater emphasis on their day-to-day interactions---and interactions with friends and family as well. This book was mostly all about the job.

That said, it was an interesting story that ties up a lot of loose ends. The conclusion---without giving anything away---sets up a new situation for our protagonists. The future is a blank slate where anything at all could happen next.

There's no doubt that this volume advanced the plot---I'm happy that so many story threads came to completion.  But at the same time, to me the book felt a bit like a placeholder, like the author was treading water.

I hope more PsyCop books are yet to come; I'd gladly read them. That said, I do rather wish that any additional volumes would concentrate on individual, self-contained adventures, rather than starting any new very broad, all-encompassing story arcs that may span multiple books.

So---in a nutshell---of course I'd recommend this to those who enjoy the series, though at the same time I'm not precisely raving about it.

I agree with what everyone's been saying above. This book did read like a character clearing-house installment - several secondary characters were definitely moved off-stage, a couple were brought to front of stage in readiness for the next books (hopefully).

Lucky for me, I recalled enough of the action / plot / characters from the previous book to get a better sense of what went down in this latest offering. I liked how Constantine was painted as an 'unknown' possibly dangerous character ... kept me on tenterhooks until the end. Vic's paranoia is still running rampant and playing havoc with his common sense and judgement of character.

And whilst there's still a degree of paranormal malevolence in this book, I do miss some of the heart-in-throat scariness from book 1 (especially). And since I'm back to tertiary studies right now ... I would kill to have Lisa's Si-No gift for exams LOL!

To comment on the cover artwork - I think it's so cool that they've kept the cute model for Victor from the new covers for the series. I was wondering who the hell the second character looking out for his back is ... all was revealed in due time (and thank God it didn't turn into some romantic triangle scenario).

This latest installment gets a four-star read from me.

I've just embarked on this series and finding them quite enjoyable - i'm on No 3 now - and a fun read. By the looks of things from the reviews above I should keep reading through to the end to keep the story threads alive in my head.

Allan wrote: "I've just embarked on this series and finding them quite enjoyable - i'm on No 3 now - and a fun read. By the looks of things from the reviews above I should keep reading through to the end to keep..."

That's the way to go Allan - only way to keep all those paranormal 'technicalities' in synch and making sense.