A Visible Darkness
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
An ex-cop from Philly investigates the deaths of elderly women in a poor Florida community in this "gritty, vivid, and suspenseful" thriller (Harlan Coben).
When five elderly women are murdered in Fort Lauderdale, Max Freeman is determined to get to the bottom of it. His friend, the lawyer Billy Manchester, believes the murders are tied to a conspiracy to collect on the women's life insurance policies. But when Freeman uncovers a shocking betrayal, he soon realizes the gruesome plot reaches further than anyone thought possible. Now it's a race against the clock to hunt down the psychopath behind the murders—before the killer sets his sights on Freeman himself.
This ebook contains an illustrated biography of the author featuring never-before-seen photos.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A starred or boxed review indicates a book of outstanding quality. A review with a blue-tinted title indicates a book of exceptional importance that hasn't received a starred or boxed review.A VISIBLE DARKNESSJonathon King. Dutton, (256p) King's first book about former Philadelphia cop Max Freeman turned loose in the Florida Everglades (The Blue Edge of Midnight) boasted several strengths a protagonist who shimmered with life in spite of a clich d backstory (he was wounded in a shootout at a robbery scene, where one of his shots killed a 12-year-old boy), a riveting supporting cast of local weirdos and a fully credible subplot about an urban man learning to love the hardships of the natural world. A few traces of those strengths survive in King's second book about Freeman, but not enough to give the series the feeling of inevitable success it originally enjoyed. For one thing, Freeman has little opportunity to commune with nature this time around. He spends much of his days and nights driving his pickup truck down the seedier streets of West Palm Beach in search of whoever is knocking off a bunch of very old African-American ladies who sold off their insurance policies early. The Florida hermits and con men of the first book have been supplanted by a rather ordinary crew of street thugs and drug dealers. But if the lackluster setting and cast disappoint King's fans, it's only because the standard set by his first book was so high there's still plenty here to reward the reader: the rapid-fire, gritty dialogue and the charms of our hard-living, earthy hero. Freeman's lawyer chum, Billy Manchester, a genius who stutters in public, reprises his fascinating role, and a new love interest, a sad-eyed lady cop, adds a pleasing twist. Though not as inspired as its precursor, this still is satisfying fare.
