Darkhouse [Hardcover]

Alex Barclay (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 4, 2005

Alex Barclay EVERYTHING YOU NEVER EXPECTED From a broken childhood comes an unbreakable and deadly bond. In 1985 in a North Texas backwater, two teenage boys made a chilling pact that would unite them forever in a dark and twisted loyalty. Now one lies dead. And the man responsible is going to pay. When a routine investigation comes to a violent and tragic end, Detective Joe Lucchesi takes leave from the NYPD and moves with his wife and son to a quiet village on the south east coast of Ireland. They're happy. They're safe. And they're about to enter a nightmare more terrifying than the one they left behind. When a young girl goes missing and the village closes ranks, Detective Lucchesi sets out to find the truth and uncovers a sinister trail that leads from the other side of the Atlantic and cuts directly to the very heart of his family. His wife is lying. His son is lying. And a killer is lying in wait.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A bestseller in the U.K. and Ireland, Irish author Barclay's somewhat predictable debut is unlikely to meet similar success in the States, where it will struggle to stand out among many similarly themed books. Det. Joe Lucchesi has left his position with the NYPD after witnessing a botched rescue attempt that claimed the life of a little girl and her mother. In an effort to recover, Joe, his wife and their teenage son, Shaun, begin a new life in a quiet Irish backwater, but the tranquility is short-lived; Shaun's girlfriend is abducted and murdered in a manner suggesting a link to a serial killer, the local cops suspect Shaun and disdain Joe's help, and clues turn up that point to a connection to Joe's last case with the NYPD. The serviceable writing does little to elevate this above the dozens of other cop vs. grudge-holding serial killer stories.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Review

Darkhouse is a terrific debut by an exciting new writer’ The Independent on Sunday'With no-hold, non-stop action moving seamlessly between North Texas, New York and Waterford, Barclay confidently delivers a knockout first novel’ The Irish Times‘This rips along and shows great technique for a debut novel. Take my word for it we will hear more of young Barclay' The Irish Independent‘Darkhouse meets all the criteria of a good thriller – scary moments, twists, and page-turning hooks…Darkhouse will guarantee you a few sleepless nights’ Irish Evening Echo‘Alex Barclay’s dark, suspenseful novel is the chiller-thriller of the Summer’ Saga Magazine‘Darkhouse is a ride worth buckling your belt for’ Sunday Business Post‘Gripping…with shades of Patricia Cornwell’ Sunday Tribune --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins (July 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0007195362
• ISBN-13: 978-0007195367
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,712,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very robust characters, October 24, 2007

By 

Brian Mustain "medical ghostwriter" (Urbana, Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Darkhouse (Hardcover)

At times I was frustrated with Dark House because it seemed to move a bit more slowly than most thrillers to which I'm accustomed. But eventually I found that to be OK, because Barclay takes her time to thoroughly develop her characters. Other writers of crime novels develop characters, of course, but usually only two or three, and usually the second-tier characters are fairly unidimensional--they're selfish, or stupid, or brilliant, etc., and a single quality tends to define them.

Even the secondary characters in Dark House were complex. With two exceptions, none of the major or even minor characters was without complexity, did not show qualities that were admirable and those that were at times foolish, bullheaded, etc. The stereotypical cop-in-charge-who-blows-the-investigation-because-he's-arrogant isn't in fact stereotypical: sometimes he's that way, but sometimes he sees that maybe he's been too narrow-minded and needs to consider the possibilities that the protagonist, Joe Lucchesi, may be right. And even the two exceptions--the main "bad guys" of the story--were multidimensional if you include their childhood years, during which you see how they were twisted into the sociopaths they eventually became.

It's not rare for an author of a crime novel (e.g., James Patterson's Alex Cross novels) to make me care about the protagonist, and perhaps two or three other main individuals. But I don't recall any other crime novel that permitted me to get to know even minor characters, and that revealed a refreshingly realistic depiction of virtues and flaws in virtually the entire collection of people who populate the book.

Barclay really had me at the end. I did NOT correctly anticipate who the traitor was toward the end of the book. And literally as I turned the last page I was still worried that Barclay was going to indulge in one of those "I've got the readers engaged, now I'm going to sucker-punch them" endings. But she didn't. Good ending. Good job of making me eager to read the next Joe Lucchesi novel.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars character driven cat and mouse thriller, June 10, 2007

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Darkhouse (Hardcover)

As part of official policy following the shooting of a weapon, NYPD police officer Joe Lucchesi goes on leave after he shot and killed kidnapper Donald Riggs, but not before the culprit murdered his victim and her mother. Needing to get away from the city, one year later he takes his wife and their son Shaun to Waterford, Ireland.

However, Shaun's girlfriend vanishes for no apparent reason. Joe assumes Riggs' best friend Duke Rawlins is deeply involved as he believes Katie Lawson was abducted. He explains his theory to the local Garda, but they treat him as if he is a paranoid loose cannon rather than a peer. When they do nothing, Joe begins an investigation that angers the Garda who warn him that he cease and desist or he will be sent home.

This is an interesting relationship drama that includes deep discerning looks at families and at blood pacts that will stun and delight the audience. The story line focuses on how people act with one another as readers see first hand how the Lucchesi family get on with one another and why Rawlins reacts like he does with the death of his best friend Donnie. Fans of character driven cat and mouse thrillers that allow the suspense to simmer will want to read DARKHOUSE.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best detective novel in ages!, February 12, 2010

By 

M. McCafferty (Lafayette, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Darkhouse (Joe Lucchesi) (Kindle Edition)

Being a nursing student and a lover of books, it's hard to fit in the time to read a novel properly. I grab little snippets here and there and they last a few weeks. I went out of my way to finish my studies so that I could spend the whole day reading this story. It is unbelievably written, the characters are realistic and come to life on the pages! I don't normally write reviews, but Alex Barclay deserves every bit of praise for this novel. I am only saddened that it's the only kindle novel available by this author.