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The Nature of Midnight [Hardcover]

Robert Rice (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)


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Book Description

June 1, 2003
1915: A German torpedo sinks the British passenger liner, RMS Lusitania. With almost 1,200 passengers drowned, the attack is one of Germany's most vicious acts against civilians. . . .

2000: A postal worker and a customer are found murdered in a rural Montana post office. U.S. Postal Inspectors Gillian Loomis and Max Dombrowski are ordered to investigate the brutal crime. Max isn't thrilled. He'd rather be in a big city than in the boondocks. And this Loomis person . . . well, they say she killed someone by accident. Great. And she doesn't seemed thrilled with him, either. But neither has much choice. It's this or worse. When they start looking for evidence, they work together all right, uncovering the existence of three letters written in 1918 by a man named Sharpless Walker. Somehow, those letters are connected to the murders.
As Gillian and Max follow the trail of the three letters, searching for a motive for the murders, one by one the enigmatic missives disappear, leaving violence and destruction in their wake. Something about these letters is bringing death to all who touch them. When Gillian and Max locate the last letter, encrypted in WWI code, they realize they have made themselves the next targets of whoever is destroying the letters and those who hold them.

Somehow, the letters are connected to the Lusitania, and so is Sharpless Walker. Whatever dark secret was buried with Walker won't stay buried. Gillian and Max just hope that they can figure out the lethal connection of three letters, a dead man, and the tragedy of the Lusitania before the two of them become the final victims.

In this fast-paced thriller, two unlikely heroes must unravel a sinister conspiracy behind one the most shocking acts of the early twentieth century.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Despite menacing action, Rice never loses control of his characters, who balance strength and weakness with familiar authenticity. In his hands, pulsing adventure and complicated characters are wonderfully compatible."
--Boston Globe

One of the great Montana crime novels --Booklist Online

"Helicopters hovering, guns blazing, this cliffhanger winds down to a sweetly satisfying end."

About the Author

Robert Rice is the author of the highly acclaimed Arthurian novel, The Last Pendragon and a contemporary thriller, Agent of Judgment. A reformed lawyer, he works for the post office and lives with his family on a farm outside Bozeman, Montana.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (June 1, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0765303604
  • ISBN-13: 978-0765303608
  • Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,309,068 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Rice has published three novels, including The Nature of Midnight, (ranked along with Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest and James Lee Burke's Black Cherry Blues as one of the great Montana crime novels), as well as Agent of Judgment, and the highly acclaimed The Last Pendragon. His stories have appeared or are forthcoming in numerous literary magazines, including Grey Sparrow, Hayden's Ferry Review, New Letters, The North American Review, Quiddity, The Saint Ann's Review, and West Wind Review. He lives in Montana.


 

Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
5 star:
 (4)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Riveting Page-Turner--Hope To See More Of These Characters, July 28, 2003
By 
Craig Larson (Maple Grove, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: The Nature of Midnight (Hardcover)
Robert Rice's _The Nature of Midnight_, features Postal Inspectors Gillian Loomis and Max Dombrowski and could be the start to a very successful series. When a postal worker and a customer are found dead in a rural Montana post office, the case is given to Loomis, an inspector who travels around the state. Dombrowski, a former pro football player, is flown in from Seattle and is the primary on the case, but he lets Gillian take charge of the investigation. Gillian is a former Seattle policewoman who quit after accidentally killing a young boy while on duty, and, since then, she has refused to carry a weapon, which is a breach of duty for a postal inspector.

The deaths appear to have some connection to a cache of old letters, found when an old safe and other equipment was moved from the old post office to a new one. The letters were written by a man named Sharpless Walker, who was lynched way back in 1918, and appear to have something to do with the sinking of the Lusitania. As Max and Gillian investigate, they begin to uncover a conspiracy that at first appears to reach to the highest levels of both the American and British governments.

This was a great, old-fashioned page turner. Rice does a great job of creating his conspiracy and then doling out the clues bit by bit, ratcheting up the tension and suspense. Max and Gillian are interesting characters and we come to care about them as they are besieged on all sides, by assassins and by higher-ups in both the Postal Inspection Service and the FBI, who may or may not be trustworthy. Rice also does a good job of drawing the scenery of rural Montana, as the two drive from place to place, pursuing the investigation. This was a riveting book and I for one would like to see another book involving these characters. Highly recommended.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Great Historical Thriller but a few loose ends not tied up, January 3, 2004
By 
Eddie L "eddielouie" (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Nature of Midnight (Hardcover)
Postal inspectors, one of America's most succesful law enforcement officers, rarely get their due in American mysteries but here Robert Rice has created a great team that doggedly searches for the killers of a postal employee and customer in Montana. Inspectors Loomis and Dombrowski uncover an 85 year old mystery and a clever fictional twist on a major historical event - the sinking of the Lusitania, which helped propel the U.S. into WWI. Rice has created great characters and a great puzzle. The only negative I can mention is that some of the action at the end seemed pretty silly and there were a few loose ends about how the whole plot was put together at the end. The answers to these open questions can be assumed by the reader but it would have been nice if the author put them on the page.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Mr. Rice Had Me Completely Gripped!!!!, June 19, 2003
By 
This review is from: The Nature of Midnight (Hardcover)
I started reading The Nature of Midnight at 5:00 this past Saturday afternoon. At 1:30 Sunday morning, I had to FORCE myself to turn off the light to get some sleep. I have never read for that long a period straight, but I was absolutely enthralled!

The characters are marvelously believable -- each has his own quirks, and that's what makes them so human and real. The plot moves in ways I certainly wouldn't have thought of, but Rice manages to make flow easily and smoothly.

The only thing I might possibly say against it is that it kept me so gripped that I finished it in two days, so NOW what do I read??

I recommend this book highly to anyone who enjoys any kind of mystery or thriller. And if I had to pick one word to describe it, I would say, "MARVELOUS."

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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
It had to be the worst hairdo of her life. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
ash hoist, postal inspection service, berth deck, postal inspector
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Sharpless Walker, New York, Iron Connie, Gillian Loomis, World War, San Francisco, Annabelle Carr, Great Falls, Monte Decker, Sheriff Binney, Max Dombrowski, Agent Loomis, Colm O'Dea, Lyla Shorter, Oleta Hirsch, Roy Metz, Constance Barton, Earl Stringer, United States, Agent Dombrowski, Board of Inquiry, Madison River, Mail Recovery Center, Madison County, Phil Upchurch
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