In “The Calling,” the second book in the Darkness Rising trilogy*, The New York Times best-selling author Kelley Armstrong pumps up the romance, danger and suspense that left readers of “The Gathering” clamoring for more.

    Maya and her friends have been forced to flee their homes during a forest fire they suspect was deliberately* set. Then they are kidnapped*, and after a helicopter crash, they find themselves lost in the Vancouver Island wilderness.

    But Maya has a secret. She can run faster, climb higher, and see better than nearly anyone else.

    Experiencing intense connections with the animals that roam* the woods outside her home, Maya knows it is only a matter of time before she is able to shift and become one of them. She believes there may be others in her small town with surprising talents.

    For a book that is by and large a story about walking through the woods, the tension never eases up, and will have you turning pages as fast as if the set pieces were moving from continent to continent.