“The Lucid Spider” by Charles R. Hinckley

The Lucid Spider

Charles R. Hinckley 
Independently published (2025)
ISBN:  979-8278924999
Reviewed by Denise Donaldson for Reader Views (07/2026)

In The Lucid Spider, Charles R. Hinckley has spun a pretty standard, hard-boiled detective yarn, with an intriguing twist:  the lead character, a private eye, experiences precognition, has out-of-body travels, and can pick up on events and people from standing in a given room or touching articles in that room.  August Chase, an FBI-trained P.I., is no ordinary gumshoe.  In addition to the mental gymnastics from his psychic powers, he has to fight the post-hypnotic suggestion that spiders are eating his brain.  This suggestion was planted by his arch-nemesis, Porter Grossman.  The Lucid Spider is the third in The Psychic Detective Series, but it stands on its own well enough that its plot and characters hang together independently. 

The story opens when August, or Gus, has a vision of a woman being shoved off a subway platform.  He recognizes the location, races down there, prevents the woman’s death, and is surprised to learn that she’s a police detective.  This encounter is the start of a relationship that intensifies as the plot progresses.  There’s the usual P.I.-and-dame snarky banter, but Hinckley does it well.  Likewise, the exchanges between Gus and his partner, Mill, are snappy and entertaining.  The FBI agents who enter the story are very much stock characters with predictable dialogue, until they’re not.  In this book, things don’t always happen the way they usually do.  As the action unfolds, Gus realizes that he can empathize with the worst of the villains in this piece, because he’s been battling Grossman’s mental torture for a long time.  This nuanced portrayal of even vicious serial killers is another departure from the usual detective fare.

While the people around him can’t really understand Gus’ visions and psychic impressions, the audience is privy to everything he sees and senses.  The overlap among precognition, clairvoyance, astral projection, and medium-like impressions is murky. Still, all the pictures in his mind are clearly spelled out so readers can understand why he does what he does and how the plot escalates.  At the same time, Gus makes the fascinating and realistic point that his visions do not show a written-in-stone future, because people have the power to change the script.  As he pursues the mysteries brought out in his visions, his curiosity and compassion often override his caution, which adds dimension to his character.

Grossman makes a thoroughly evil, vicious, and frustratingly slippery adversary for Gus.  He continually anticipates Gus’ movements and reactions, ratcheting up the suspense throughout the story.  Hinckley throws in complicating side plots, assuring that the storyline never proceeds directly from point A to point B. 

Overall, Charles R. Hinckley’s The Lucid Spider has an appeal that reaches beyond the detective genre to pull in fans of both the supernatural and criminal profiling.  It’s a rollercoaster ride and a satisfyingly creepy read.