Customer Reviews

Accustomed to the Dark

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Santa Fe has always been a primary character in Walter Satterthwait's annals of Joshua Croft and Rita Mondragon. In *Accustomed to the Dark* it becomes a bittersweet backdrop to a contemporary tragedy and a poignant past. We learn in flashbacks what happened years ago to cripple Rita and how Joshua tracked the attacker down and put him in jail. As Joshua remembers the past he must take the same journey again. Scenes of his pursuit of the attacker mingle with reminiscences of Croft's early days in Santa Fe and his relationship with Rita. This time Rita is near death's door. Joshua tries to define his life while he flees what he fears will happen. Because of this, he makes a nearly fatal mistake. This is well-written, taut with suspense, as we follow Joshua across Colorado, Kansas, Texas and finally into Florida as he seeks two truly evil men. There is a whiff of the valedictory about this book

I just read "Accustomed to the Dark", and I keep wondering: is it really a thriller about a hard boiled PI or is it the story of a looser.
This is my first Walter Satterthwait book, and here I meet a guy who basically creates a situation leading to the death of his boss, then can't prevent the love of his life to get shot at, then rather stupidly allows the perpetrators to escape from their hidding nest, then is almost killed at the end just saved by an improbable character. Cherry on the pie, his love wants to walk out on him !
It's well written, the pace is fast, it's entertaining, but I overall find it darker than expected.

This is one book of a series by Satterthwait following his very hard boiled P.I. Joshua Croft and set in Santa Fe, New Mexico (and elsewhere). For Croft fans, it is a very typical novel from the series and fun to read, with some well-defined quirky characters along the way. This is my fourth novel from the series, which is kind of formulaic by now, hence only 3 stars. But this is a fast read, and a good genre book, so I recommend it for a nice weekend of escapism, and a very good sense of locale in Santa Fe.