Into the Dark
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4.6 • 219 Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
New York Times bestselling author Karen Rose returns with a new thriller in her chilling Cincinnati series.
Michael Rowland is not your typical teenager. Deaf from birth, he’s always looked out for his five-year-old brother, Joshua. When his stepfather comes after Joshua, Michael takes the child and runs. He’s determined to protect his brother at all costs, even if that means making himself vulnerable to a danger he can’t hear coming. And the danger intensifies when Michael witnesses a stranger kill his stepfather.
Desperate and afraid, the boys have nowhere else to go but to Joshua’s soccer coach, journalist and ex-Army ranger Diesel Kennedy. When Diesel sees that Michael is injured, he takes them to see Dr. Dani Novak—not only because she’s fluent in American Sign Language, but because he’s drawn to her and everything she stands for. She never refuses Diesel’s requests—because she, too, feels their connection—but she resists him for reasons she doesn’t want to confess.
When Dani and Diesel learn that Michael saw the face of his stepfather’s killer, they fear for his safety. But they quickly discover that it’s even worse than they feared: They may have a serial killer on their hands—and all signs point to Michael as the next target.
“[A] pedal-to-the-metal thriller with plenty of developed charactersand converging mysteries. . . . To call this book a page-turneris an understatement.”—USA Today on Say You're Sorry
“Rose writes blistering, high-octane suspense that never lets up.”—New York Times bestselling author Karen Robards
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rose (Say You're Sorry) combines heart-stopping suspense and scorching romance in this taut contemporary thriller. Cincinnati IT pro Elvis "Diesel" Kennedy spends his free time coaching kindergarten sports and hoping to change his "just friends" status with Dani Novak, a doctor who runs a free clinic. Dani reciprocates Diesel's feelings, but avoids acting on them because she's scared to tell him that she has HIV. Fourteen-year-old Michael Rowland, who is deaf, witnesses a man murder his pedophile stepfather. Michael's five-year-old brother, Joshua, plays for Diesel's team, and Dani and Diesel, who was himself sexually abused as a child, team up to keep the boys safe both from the cops, who think Michael is responsible, and from the real killer, who hopes to eliminate the witness. While trying to clear Michael's name, Dani and Diesel uncover a human-trafficking ring. The danger of their amateur investigation forces them closer together, and they learn to rely on each other. Rose has a gift for creating animated characters and charged situations, and though she handles heavy topics with care, the frank discussion of sexual abuse may trigger sensitive readers. Tight plotting and ripped-from-the-headlines subject matter make for a high-octane page-turner.
Customer Reviews
Edgy
INTO THE DARK by Karen Rose is the second book in the Cincinnati Novels I've read. It is a page-turner, romantic suspense that opens with a teenage boy, Michael Rowland, witnessing the murder of his stepfather while rescuing his younger brother, Joshua. Michael has been abused by his stepfather and his mother, who is a heroin addict.
Diesel Kennedy is Joshua's soccer coach and a reporter for the newspaper. He has spent a lot of time reporting on child abuse and was an abused child himself. He recognizes Michael is being abused and takes him to a doctor, Dani Novak, who is partially deaf and signs. She also happens to be a emergency foster care provider and takes the boys in.
Diesel, has been attracted Dani for more than a year, but she keeps him at arms length. She afraid to love again after her fiancé committed suicide and blamed her before he died. She has feelings for Diesel and has since the moment she met him, but she's afraid of hurting him.
Michael's stepfather's body is found, and the killer learns that Michael gave the police his description. Now the killer is out to tie up loose ends, and he is hunting for Michael. But between Dani and Diesel, plus local police and FBI, no one is getting to him.
Diesel and Dani are thrown together and determined to keep the children safe, but spending so much time together, they can't deny their feelings for each other any longer. They become involved.
INTO THE DARK is a fast-paced read. The whole story is told in three days, which keeps the story moving. I couldn't put it down and love this author, but the story line is so dark I only read her occasionally. But she delivered a happily ever after that is satisfying and the perfect ending.