Darkness, Darkness
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4.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Thirty years ago, the British Miners’ Strike threatened to tear england apart, turning neighbor against neighbor, husband against wife, father against son—enmities which still smolder.Charlie Resnick, recently promoted to Detective Inspector and ambivalent, at best, about some of the police tactics used in the Strike, had run an surveillance-gathering unit at the heart of the dispute.Now, in virtual retirement, the discovery of the body of a young woman who disappeared during the Strike brings Resnick back to the front line to assist in the investigation into the woman’s murder—forcing him to confront his past—in what will assuredly be his last case . . . as well as John’s Harvey’s final Charlie Resnick novel.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Diamond Dagger Award winner Harvey's elegiac 12th Charlie Resnick novel (after 2008's Cold in Hand) will be the final one, according to his afterword. The destruction of an old apartment terrace in the Nottinghamshire village of Bledwell Vale, in England's coal-mining country, reveals a human skeleton. Dental records identify the remains as those of Jenny Hardwick, missing since 1984. An outspoken advocate for the miners, Jenny was the wife of a scab, one of the men who crossed the picket lines to keep providing for their families. Det. Insp. Catherine Njoroge takes charge of the investigation, and recruits Res nick, who has been working as civilian investigator on cold cases, since he has first-hand experience of the divisive, violent miner's strike of the mid-1980s. The hunt for Jenny's killer runs in parallel to the scenes from the strike in this ambitious narrative, and the reader is also given a shocking glimpse into Catherine's troubled domestic life. Some readers may find the Thatcher-era politics a slog, but the excellent writing, strong characterizations, and the genial, jazz-loving Resnick make this a suitable conclusion for Harvey's fictional creation.
