Customer Reviews

Darkness on the Edge of Town

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

J. Carson's Black's first novel, Darkness on the Edge of Town, is an amazing thriller that is filled with so many spellbinding moments that you won't be able to put it down! You can really identify with the heroine, Laura Cardinal, as she enters the dark underworld of child porn to find a serial murderer before he's able to kill his next victim. Just when you think you've identified who the killer is, new characters emerge and the "good guys" are revealed for who they truly are. There are so many plot twists in this novel that you almost feel like you're on the tea cup ride at Disneyland.

This is the best mystery novel I've ever read!!! Which leads to the next question: When is J. Carson Black's next novel coming out? I want to read more about Laura's adventures!!!

Darkness on the Edge of Town is an edgy, brilliantly-plotted thriller that I could not put down. As a former police detective and a writer, I read a lot of thrillers, but few are as gritty and realistic as this one. The police procedural details are solid, but J. Carson Black goes further, capturing the emotions felt by cops as well as the facts-something most writers leave out. For me, that's the difference between a good book, and a great one.

"A bad one's coming...watch your back, Kiddo," said Frank X. Entwistle at three in the morning in the bedroom of Laura Cardinal. Frank was Laura's old mentor and he was dead.

So begins the gripping tale of DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN. Frank's warning alludes to a criminal case involving the death of a fourteen-year-old girl. The location of the body, the way it is dressed and posed, suggests she just might be the victim of a serial killer, an internet sexual predator, to be exact. The discovery of a dead boyfriend near the initial crime scene tells Laura the killer is bold and will stop at nothing to get what he desires.

Laura is a DPS criminal investigator and the lead investigator on the case (a female in a man's world of testosterone and politics). In this rustic town of Bisbee, Arizona, Laura finds herself pitted against an envious female law enforcement officer and her boss, a man who follows his own investigation. Laura consults with a wealthy quadriplegic super-hacker, and through a quick course in Internet Sexual Predator 101, she follows a lead across the country to a sleepy town on the Florida panhandle. And from that point on there is no turning back. The ending, with its final twist, will shock and amaze you.

Atmosphere is so strong in her writing that you'll feel as though you're planted smack dab in the dry sweltering heat of the desert, or the pressing humidity of the swampy seacoast--descriptions filled with the gracefulness of Spanish Moss and the spikiness of a prickly pear. She propels us through gritty, visceral elements of murder and forensics intermingled with a softer side, the tender emotions and fears of a woman who is not as tough on the inside as she tries to appear to those around her. Much of the appeal for Laura Cardinal centers on the contradictions of her character. On the job she is tough and efficient. In her personal life she is less sure of her position regarding love, a tortured past, and her ability to cope emotionally when she learns the case has deeper and more personal connections. Laura is haunted by the abduction and death of a schoolmate eighteen years ago. She could have been that girl. The past is now.

Beguiling names like: Cooger and Dark's Pandemonium Shadows Show (an homage to Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes); Musicman; and Dark Moondancer, merely hint at the evil darkness that swirls around the places and players Black has created in this wonderful, many layered debut novel. Although JC Black can complete with the best of them in the police procedural novel, she has her very own style, a style that stands out from the pack. If this novel doesn't make the New York Times bestseller list, I will be immensely surprised.

As a fan of Georges Simenon, I like a book that can take me to a different place and that is filled with the human stories rather than just being constant action. J. Carson Black has done this beautifully. Both with the setting (the author's website has pictures of the locations mentioned in the book so you can get an idea of what everything looks like) and the characters. "Darkness" starts out with a murder in small-town Arizona and all the complications, social intricacies, and subtexts of a case being handled by both state and local forces. Others here have mentioned the gripping plot, but the book is also rich in human social interaction and memories, and runs the emotional gamut from guilt, denial, fear, and evil to love, courage, and sacrifice. I'm looking forward to Black's next book in what promises to be a great series!

Darkness on the Edge of Town is a very impressive debut novel. The character development is excellent, the plot moves along quickly with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing, and plenty of suspense. I would think that fans of Sue Grafton's series would enjoy this book, as I found it to be somewhat similar, but the plot is a little bit darker and the villains a little (or a lot) more sinister. I already can't wait for the next novel in this series.

I purchased the entire series for my kindle and was hoping that the series would be good. I could not stop reading! What a great discovery to find this author. Other reviews have given previews of the book so it is not needed in this review. But if you like police thrillers you won't be disappointed in this book. I can't wait to start the second book in the series.

I started reading it on Friday night and could not put it down. I finished at 2:30 a.m. The writing is crisp and clear. The story is compelling and the twists and turns held my attention. Phenomenal plot. Gritty story. This is one of the best books I have read in the past year. Please add this to your list. You will not regret it.

For a debut novel, this book exceeded expectations! I wonder if they tried for that First Novel Edgar? It was certainly good enough.

First, the writing itself was excellent. The dialog was natural, which isn't always the case (some very popular mystery authors write dialog that is hideous), and I didn't stumble over any awkward paragraphs. There were even a few laugh-out-loud passages. Ms. Black is a clever lady and clever enough not to use her book to show off, either.

Second, the characters were all well-drawn and interesting. Laura, the protagonist, was especially compelling. I liked her, warts and all.

Third, the plot was exciting. It IS a page-turner.

As to the criticisms some have posted...

There were a couple of coincidences that did activate my willing-suspension-of-disbelief gene but I didn't much care. I've had stranger ones happen in my own life.

There were a lot of characters. This mattered at first when I was trying to read it a little bit at a time (I kept forgetting who the people were by the time I ran into them again), but when I finally gave the book the day it deserved, there was no trouble at all keeping them all straight. As I said before, they are well-drawn.

I'm going to go get the next book right away--what better compliment is there than that?

In Bisbee, Arizona, teen Jessica Parker was abducted near her home and killed. The perpetrator dressed in a little girl's outfit was posed in City Park's band shell. Needing help, the police chief asks the Arizona Department of Public-Safety to send an investigator. When Laura Cardinal starts investigating, she is shocked that the girl looks like her childhood friend who was also abducted and killed. Laura finds a matchbook cover with the name Crazygirl12 is on it.

Laura thinks that Jessica met her killer over the internet even though local officer Buddy Hudson believes it was a local man. Two twelve years old girls are raped and killed by a perpetrator using the sane MO as Jessica's murderer. A tip sends Laura to a small Florida town where she finds out the identity of the sexual killer. When Buddy's daughter is abducted, Laura rushes back to Bisbee; he thinks the same perpetrator took his child. Besides the kidnapper, a sexual sadist who tortures, rapes, and kills young girls has plans for the girl and is always one step ahead of the police almost as if he has inside information.

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN is a dark brilliantly plotted police procedural that is told mostly in the third person. The author uses the first person to hone in on the perpetrator's thoughts and feelings so that readers will feel a great antipathy towards him. This is J. Cooper Black's debut novel and it reminiscent of the works of Boris Starling and Michael Slade who show the audience the darkest side of human monsters with the skill to make people afraid that their next day neighbor could be such a person.

Harriet Klausner

I read a lot of thrillers, and I really didn't enjoy DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN that much. It's too slow paced and convoluted to be an effective suspense novel.

J. Carson Black is a good writer, but she needs to tighten and streamline her plots better. This novel was drawn out and featured too many characters who were difficult to keep track of. It didn't help that the main character is a rather bland heroine, lacking both humor and personality. In the end, I found this to be a rather tedious read.

I was also disappointed by the ending of DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN, which really came out of left field. It basically involves taking a character who was perfectly normal for the first ninety-five percent of the novel and making him a psychopath for the last five percent. I was very unhappy about this abrupt transformation, which had no foreshadowing whatsoever. I also didn't find the motives for his crimes to be believable or satisfying.

I think Black definitely has writing talent, but I would like to see her apply her talent to a much tighter storyline that actually makes some sense. My advice is to skip this book.