Customer Reviews

Dark Of The Moon (Louis Kincaid)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

P.J. Parrish's "Dark of the Moon" is a captivating debut novel---the first in the Louis Kincaid series.

It is 1983 and Louis returns to Black Pool, Mississippi from Detroit to care for his dying mother. He stays in law enforcement as an investigator for the BPSD.

Louis discovers the thirty-year-old remains of a lynched black man. Much like Harry Bosch, Louis feels the need to speak for the dead---he wants to ID the body.

The local white trash, insular policos with vested interests and powerful families want the past to remain in the past. There are obviously secrets to be protected in this small southern town.

Louis has only two slim clues, an ally with the FBI in Jackson, and an unknown collaborator feeding him info bit by bit. A couple of murders suggest that the secrets will remained silent.

Will these present day murders lead Louis to the solution of the lynching and the person(s) responsible for the cover-up?

As the odds against Louis locating the answers mount he shows more resolve in getting to the truth. He refuses to back off---his deep sense of honor and integrity eventually winning over some in the Sheriff's Department.

Intricately plotted, a strong cast, believable dialogue and creditable resolution combine to make this one a keeper. This is a wonderful series with a protagonist to cheer for.

Louis Kincaid, a black Detroit policeman, returns to his hometown of Black Pool, Mississippi to be with his dying mother. While there he joins the sheriff's department and becomes embroiled in a thirty-year old mystery when a skeleton with a noose still around its neck is unearthed. As he delves further he stirs up the white and black communities and his own life is put in jeopardy before the mystery is finally solved.

After reading most of the previous reviews I'm afraid I'm going to have to take the minority position. I feel the book's strength is its plot. For a first mystery, it's well plotted and there are enough plot twists to keep you interested. However, most of the characters are sterotypes. The evil, ambitious Mayor, the corrupt DA, the struggling-to-get-out-from-under-the-evil-mayor sheriff, the cracker deputies, the tragic southern belle, they're all here. It's borderline soap-opera.

In a technical vein, I found the dialog a bit stilted. I also, in the beginning of the book at least, found it hard to figure out what day it was or even the time of day. It seems like many of those little anchor points that keep you grounded in the story were missing. I also felt the book went about three chapters past the spot it should have ended.

I feel bad in a way putting down this book. I have tremendous respect for anyone who can sit down and write a novel from start to finish and then get it published. I've tried and I know the odds. However, I think this book needed some more work. Would I recommend it? Yes, if you like mysteries I think you should give it a shot. This is the author's first book so he hasn't hit his stride yet. With some polishing and tighter editing I think this book really could have been very good. Perhaps the authors next will be better.

Louis Kincaid, a former Detroit police officer, moved back to Black Pool, Mississippi to take care of his dying mother. He took a temporary job as a deputy in order to continue his law enforcement career. During one of his patrols he finds the body of a black man that was lynched approximately thirty years ago. Most people in town want to keep the past buried by making him a John Doe; Kincaid wants to identify the victim and give him justice.

This is the first novel for the sister team of P. J. Parrish. Their main character is a conflicted young man with a strong sense of responsibility. Deputy Kincaid is going to explore Black Pool's dark history in order to find out the hidden facts. He will defy the town's authority and discover the truth even if it costs him his life. Once he starts there is no turning back.

The authors do a great job with characterization. They show the town's diversity by including the town's rich white people all the way to the poor African Americans. There are times that they go overboard showing the community's racism that it almost falls into a stereotype. One dislikes the characters before one even knows them. The story is thought provoking and a good start to the series. DEAD OF WINTER follows DARK OF THE MOON and does a good job of it.

I found this mystery about Louis Kincaid, a bicultural cop who returns to his roots in Mississippi to care for his dying mother, very down to earth! Louis who is of mixed origin is working for an all white police department, where prejudice is a rule of thumb. :( While having to deal with the animosity of this small town police force, he stumbles upon some buried bones of a young African American who was buried with a nose around his neck & a book. Louis feels connected to this poor young man & to the surprise of everyone, he starts to unravel a well kept secret in this town. Everyone is afraid to talk, but Louis persists in finding this boys killers. I found this story to be very real & interesting! I love the way the authors how wound this mystery together. I am now their number one fan!! So, I hope the Parrish sisters keep on writing more books about Louis Kincaid so I can keep on reading about him. I've already read Dead Of Winter & it's even better than the first book, so if you want a nail bitter, edge of your seat book, look for more books writen by the Parrish sisters. ;)

I read this book from beginning to end in one day - I couldn't put it down! The main character, Louis Kincaid, is well-developed and sympathetic, but Parrish avoids making him a cliche (big city cop in a backwater town). He comes home to the South to be with his estranged mother as she lays dying of syphilis and cirrhosis of the liver. He has to come to terms with his feelings for her, and with the contempt of nearly everyone in this small Mississippi town. Louis is interracial and so is not accepted by either the whites nor the blacks of the town. The mystery unfolds gradually and is far from predictable. It had so many twists and turns that it kept me reading long into the night. Parrish does an excellent job developing all of the characters and I can't wait for his next Kincaid novel to appear!

I am not one to ever read mysteries. As a matter of fact, I avoid them. But after reading the cover of this one, I had to buy it. I was NOT dissappointed a single bit about the book. It was wonderful. Very emotional and bone chilling. Sure, there was a lot of drama but I guess that is what makes this type of book so good. I fell in love with the main character, Louis Kincaid, the deputy that is assigned to solve a murder mystery of a young black man that was brutally murdered approximately 20 years prior. He is in a Southern state and they still hold some prejudice there, so basically, he has limited information given to him and limited help from the citizens that know more then they will let on. With a lot of twists and turns, the book keeps you guessing. There are parts that really make you mad and you just want to throw the book across the room, but there are also heart touching parts as well. A very good book with a great plot and characters that you either hate or you love. I highly recommend this book to anyone that loves murder mysteries. I avoid those books and I absolutely loved this one!

This as good as any Detective book I have read in years. Having lived in the south this book hits home. 99.9% peaple in the south are verry good and friendly but there are a few that fits these charectors too a tee, Im sad to say. This book takes you a step back in time and in the shoes of a black detective trying to solve a case no one wants solved. Read it, you wont be disapointed. I cant wait till the next P.J.Parrish book.

This is my second Louis Kincaid novel, having read Island of Bones a few months ago. This one blew me away. It centers around the investigation of a decades old lynching, a small town, and the secrets that haunt some of the pillars of the town. Louis Kincaid investigates this crime, refusing to "let it go" at the urging of the town's leaders. What follows is a great story of what happens when the truth is finally revealed.

I have not had a lot of time to read much fiction lately, but I had to know what was keeping my wife up late at night. I took the opportunity to read this story and could not put it down! It wasn't just a mystery, it was so much more. It was a captivating story of life in small town Mississippi. How events in the past shaped the people of the present. I really cannot wait to start the second book in the series. In fact, I am stopping right here to go do just that.

I hope you start this book early in the day because once you start it, you won't be able to put it down. The main character, Louis Kincaid, is developed very well, as are the other characters in the book. The plot quietly grabs you by the throat, drags you through the book, and won't let go until the last page.