Darkness on the Edge of Town (Laura Cardinal Series, Book 1) [Kindle Edition]

J. Carson Black (Author)

Book Description

Used to be kids played outdoors until time for dinner, now social media’s the new game in town. These days, they play on their smartphones. But with more freedom comes greater danger. Mobile devices are a conduit into a child’s life, not just for friends but for those who intend harm. This is the message of J. Carson Black’s Daphne du Maurier Award-nominated thriller, DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN.

Laura Cardinal, a detective with the Arizona Department of Public Safety, troubleshoots homicide investigations in small towns where resources are scarce. When Laura investigates the murder of a fourteen-year-old girl found in a town’s park bandshell, she knows immediately what she’s up against: a cunning sexual predator. But why is she plagued by the abduction of a schoolmate eighteen years earlier?

In a runaway case that propels Laura from a lavish Tucson estate to the secretive heart of a north Florida town, she must confront the ghosts of her own past. Then another child goes missing--and Laura must race the clock to find her.

“A superb debut…Welcome to a strong new voice in American Crime Fiction”
--T. Jefferson Parker, author of California Girl

“A complex, multi-layered, nail-biting Superthriller”
--Michael Prescott, author of Dangerous Games

DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN includes the sneak preview of DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, Book 2 in the Laura Cardinal Series and the sneak preview of SECRETS TO DIE FOR by L.J. Sellers.

Product Details

• File Size: 511 KB
• Print Length: 368 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Breakaway Media (June 14, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B003TFETK0
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,243 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

141 of 148 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Darkness on the Edge of Town: A Spellbinding Thriller! March 8, 2005

By Barbara K. Schiller

Format:Mass Market Paperback

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!!!

75 of 77 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A riveting debut thriller that will keep you up all night! April 20, 2005

By Lee Lofland

Format:Mass Market Paperback

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.

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't miss this one, it's a winner! November 28, 2004

By Carol Davis Luce

Format:Mass Market Paperback

"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.

More About the Author

As witness to the ongoing changes in publishing, J. Carson Black knew she had to raise her game. She'd always read and studied the best authors in her genre, but to survive, Black knew she must grow. And so she determined to expand beyond her comfort zone and write a big thriller.

A political junkie, J. Carson Black loved the cable TV news circus--the media's mad scramble to find sensational stories. So when a suspected child-killer's plane landed with all the pomp and circumstance of the space shuttle in Boulder, Colorado, Black took note. As it turned out, John Mark Karr did not kill JonBenet Ramsey; he'd merely played the media and fed their insatiable 24/7 appetite. This was the New American Way: celebrity for its own sake.

That seed grew into J. Carson Black's thriller THE SHOP, published by Thomas & Mercer.

Using social media, Black has made friends who share her passions and interests. Some of these friends are experts in their fields: homicide detectives, retired military, military analysts, a computer forensic expert, and even a Navy SEAL. Over time, these friends grew to trust Black and gave her entree into their world, and THE SHOP is the better for it.

A Tucson, Arizona native, J. Carson Black's ICON, a thriller set in the New West, was published in June 2012. She is currently at work on her next thriller for Thomas & Mercer.