Darkness Falls [Hardcover]

Margaret Murphy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2004

British barrister Clara Pascal stars in Darkness Falls and she has everything. A high-flying attorney and devoted mother, she was envied and admired by her peers. Now, robbed of everything that gave her life meaning, she lies chained to the stone wall of a cold, dark cellar, deprived of food and rest. Most frightening, though, her kidnapper refuses to communicate with her, even to tell her what he wants.

As Clara passes from fear to anger to despair in her dark prison, Detective Inspector Steve Lawson leads the Cheshire police team working to find her. Is her abduction the work of a random maniac? A released criminal taking his revenge on the lawyer who sent him to jail? An obsessed stalker? Is it a last, spectacular bid for freedom by Casavettes, the ruthless drug baron she was prosecuting? Even her husband is not above suspicion.

The police team frantically knocks on doors, follows bare wisps of leads, bullying, cajoling, and begging witnesses for help, but it seems that Clara Pascal has disappeared without a trace.

And Clara, at last, begins to suspect why her jailer has kept her alive so far....

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Who's the man responsible for grabbing Clara Pascal—an attractive, successful criminal lawyer—outside her daughter's school, then chaining her to a wall and subjecting her to a barrage of mental and physical attacks? Is it the nameless lunatic we meet in the first chapter of British author Murphy's latest high-tension thriller (after 2001's Dying Embers), who has already killed at least one woman and is busy looking for his next victim? Is there some connection with the crime lord Clara is prosecuting in an upcoming trial, or one of her other cases? Could her husband, a flashy but unstable businessman, be involved? Murphy is absolutely fair as she moves her totally credible team of cops through each possibility, with some doors opening and others closing (or appearing to close) at every turn. And her villain, who never shows Clara his face, is all the more frightening because of his rough-edged intelligence. "Who do you think you're kidding?" he asks her at one point. "Of course you want to know who I am. Because you think if you know who I am, you'll be able to reason with me, use that persuasive patter you're so famous for." It spoils nothing to know that Clara does just that by the end of this well-crafted novel.
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* This stunning British suspense story will keep readers edgy and guessing until the very end. It opens with a cheerfully frantic domestic scene of Clara Pascal-- prosecuting counsel, wife, mother, and seemingly typical thirtysomething career-home juggler--trying to get to chambers on time while answering the demands of her daughter, excited and clingy on her ninth birthday. Two chapters later, Counsel Pascal is chained to a wall in a stranger's pitch-dark cellar. She is anything but a passive victim, however, as she uses her formidable argumentation skills to keep herself alive. Murphy ably spins several plot lines and points of view: Pascal's increasingly hopeless ordeal, the Chester Constabulary's efforts to find her, the musings of a serial killer. Everything hinges on motive. Was Pascal a random victim, or did her current case, the prosecution of a drug overlord, make her a target? Or is there something disjointed in her seemingly serene home life? Murphy's descriptions of the police procedure involved in recovering kidnap victims are sharply rendered, and her depiction of Pascal's courage is psychologically acute and moving. Perhaps the best feature of the novel, though, is the way tension is heightened through the juxtaposition of scenes. By setting the gut-wrenching events in the cellar against the painstaking detail gathering of the investigation--door-to-door inquiry, strategizing in the Incident Room--Murphy makes the reader squirm with impatience, willing the narrative forward. A first-rate chiller. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (June 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312328516
• ISBN-13: 978-0312328511
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,726,111 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Abduction, rape and murder, May 3, 2003

By 

Beverley Strong (Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Darkness Falls (Hardcover)

This is the first Margaret Murphy book that I've read but it certainly won't be the last.
Defence barrister, Clara Pascal, is kidnapped and held captive in a dark, cold cellar for 6 days, expecting that every next minute would be her last. Can't go into detail as it would give away the plot but suffice to say that there is suspense, tension and the expectation of iminent violence. M/s Murphy describes her scenes in the police Special Operation room in as much detail as if she were writing a script for a tv cop show which is a very effective way of writing in this genre. I gave it 5 stars (unusual for me) for good plotting, tight writing and her ability to hold the readers attention to the end without missing a beat.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a well crafted thriller, August 3, 2004

By 

tregatt (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Darkness Falls (Hardcover)

Fast paced and chilling, "Darkness Falls" is a thriller that will definitely please even the most fastidious of readers. I certainly was hooked by the time I had finished the first chapter. And even though I (again) suffered from a lack of a proper night's sleep, it was well worth it.

It's Pippa Pascal's birthday, and the nine year old wants her mother, high-flying lawyer, Clara, to take her to school. And so, even though she shouldn't, Clara makes the time in order to take Pippa to school on this important day. But outside the school gates, things go terribly wrong, when a masked man jumps out of a nondescript van and grabs Clara, bundling her into the van and driving away. Within minutes the police are on the scene; unfortunately, even though Pippa was a witness to her mother's kidnapping, the traumatized little girl is of little help. As the police try to figure out if Clara was kidnapped for ransom, or if she was snatched because of her involvement in the very high profile prosecution of a crime boss, the once totally in control Clara Pascal, imprisoned in a cellar and chained to a wall, battles for her life and sanity as she tries to figure out who kidnapped and her and why. But the more she learns, the more she realizes just how precarious her position is and how much she has to fear from this very determined man who seems to have some very firm ideas about what Clara should experience...

"Darkness Falls in a very superbly crafted thriller that centers wholly on the character of Clara Pascal -- who she was, what she did, and her reactions to being imprisoned and controlled by her masked jailer. Slowly we get to know Clara -- to admire her tenacity and courage, even as we dislike her (past) single-minded dedication to her profession. And even though the book focuses equally on the police investigation and the killer's sick fantasies (there is a subplot involving the serial killer), reading of Clara's attempts to connect with her kidnapper is what made "Darkness Falls" riveting. Swiftly and tautly paced and with mounting levels of tension, "watching" how Margaret Murphy brings both these subplots together is a stunning and unexpected twist, made reading "Darkness Falls" a pleasure and well worth not having slept enough the previous night.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars exhilarating thriller, June 2, 2004

By 

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

This review is from: Darkness Falls (Hardcover)

Nine year old Pippa Pascal persuades her ultra-busy mom Clara to take her to school today since it is her birthday. Though the barrister is working on a major case with early appointments, still Clara is conned into dropping her daughter off to the amusement of her spouse Hugo. However, at the school following the mandatory cautionary motherly pitch to stay safe, Clara turns towards her vehicle only to have a red ski masked male abduct her.

While Clara is chained to a wall in a clammy cellar with no food, water, or a toilet, the culprit remains silent behind his mask. Clara ponders who and why, but comes up empty. Meanwhile Detective Inspector Steve Lawson investigates the kidnapping with two prime suspects in mind: the spouse and a mobster she is prosecuting. Though held prisoner with Bastille-like conditions, Clara refuses to break or beg. Instead she fascinates her host when with élan she psychological assaults him though that track fails to move the culprit. As time moves on, Clara's chance of survival geometrically diminishes.

DARKNESS FALLS is an exhilarating thriller due to the prime two characters. Clara will fascinate readers as she has her "host" with her courage. The abductee is also intriguing as ironically the audience learns his plans for his victim before he applies them to Clara. This enables the audience to feel for the barrister yet also sees what went right and what failed. Though a final turn of the screw seems too easy, fans will value this dark psychological thriller that does not let go until the final ante is raised.

Harriet Klausner