Customer Reviews

...And Night Falls

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Tommie Lyn is a great writer. This book kept me turning pages all the way to the end. The characters are well rounded. The romance was real. The suspense was thick. The danger was intense. I didn't know who the man behind the killer was until the very end!

As someone who has never been to the south-east, I appreciated the attention to detail given in description. You'll really feel like you are in the heat and humidity - not to mention hurricanes! :)

I'm looking forward to reading more from Tommie Lyn.

Usually, it's books written by Vince Flynn or Kathy Reichs that can, will, and do keep me up until all hours of the night. Well, move over, Vince and Kathy! Tommie Lyn has won that coveted award too.

Being that I write mysteries, this particular offering from Tommie Lyn had me intrigued from the get-go. I was immediately asking questions as I read about Shelley Goodnight, her friends, family, and the Southern Charmer Sheriff's deputy, Clay Cameron. (This, by the way, is a good response to a mystery book!) I was trying to guess at everything--this person's relationship with that person, that person's ulterior motives, this person's honesty, etc.

I fell in love with Shelley and Clay. I wanted them to end up together. :) (Trying super-hard not to spoil it for others.) I loved how protective of her he became.

And of course the mystery was great too. It had everything I love in a good who-dunit: politics, ulterior motives, are-they-good-or-are-they-bad guys, twists, turns, love affairs. And, there was even a bit of a moral to parts of the story. (Not spoiling it, not spoiling it!)

If you enjoy a good murder mystery mated with a romance story, you'll enjoy '...And Night Falls'.

This is a good book and well written,with plenty of charactures drawn together which cleverly masked the outcome. It is very atmospheric and draws the reader into the story. The authors discription of the area's and characters in the book are excellent. This is a really good read and we are looking forward to the next book.

...And Night Falls

Although I absolutely love the writing of this author I could not get into this book as the romance was a bit to heavy for me. I however did like the storyline and it was believable and intriguing but the romance just kept holding the plot down. I believe it is still worth it but would flag this as mostly romance.
Free Book Reviews

Tommie Lyn has crafted a real page turner of a tale. For me her characters leapt off the page and took on a life of their own. Some of those characters were pleasing individuals while others were manipulating and loathsome. The world she constructed mirrored our world very well and made the story quite believable. As she revealed more and more details of the story I was continually draw into the tale. With each new character her story takes on a richer and heartier flavor. It became a southern gumbo of enjoyment. I'm not usually a fast reader, but I read this book over Christmas vacation in three days. I loved the ending and was completely surprised. This book left me hungry for more of Tommie Lyn's magic.

William Goodnight is the notorious king of the Florida Panhandle. Shelley is daddy's little girl. So when she needs a job, he creates one in his real estate office. Little does he know that this particular act of nepotism could lead to the downfall of his shady empire.

Shelley reluctantly accepts her father's help. After divorcing her college sweetheart, she moves into her own apartment. Living alone for the first time, she is determined to become independent.

She is off to a fresh start when the unthinkable happens. On a beach camping trip with her friends, she stumbles across the body - of ironically - her co-worker Farrell Gilbert. When the police arrive at the scene, Shelley's path crosses with Deputy Clay Cameron who finds himself instantly attracted to her.

Don Yearwood, Clay's fellow police officer, holds a familial grudge against the Goodnights. Farrell Gilbert was his cousin, and he is determined to hold Shelley and her father accountable for his murder. The history between the families is filled with blood and betrayal and Don is determined to seek revenge.

When Shelley is taken to the police station for questioning, Daddy once again comes to the rescue with his longtime friend and business partner, Attorney Kendall Shapiro. Shapiro is in the midst of a U.S. Senate campaign and the demands of William Goodnight are not a top priority. The power struggle between the two friends is brought to the forefront with Shelley's involvement in finding Farrell Gilbert's body.

Clay becomes an integral part of Shelley's life. He offers his protection when he begins to suspect that things are not what they seem with Farrell Gilbert's death. The two are drawn together as Hurricane Ivan strikes the Panhandle and a hit man is set on Shelley's trail.

The relationship between Shelley and Clay is portrayed in an chivalrous light. Having grown up on a farm, the gentlemanly ways of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were instilled in Clay's character. He insists on separate bedrooms when he harbors Shelley at his house. He is the first to say, "I love you," and to bring up the subject of marriage and children. Shelley is at times frustrated by his restraint, but can't help falling in love with his honest and open nature. However, she revels in the thought of giving up her independence to settle down with him.

The novel is fast-paced and can be read in two sittings. The font and type size are easy on the eye. The chapters are short in length with cliffhanger endings that make you want to turn the page. There are a lot of character names to keep track of and the "who-done-it" aspect is alluded to before the final climatic scene. Shelley is a fully fleshed out character who has flaws and doubts. She is actively working through the issues in her life. Supporting characters are a bit one-dimensional such as Shelley's devoted mother or they exhibit abrupt 360º personality shifts like William Goodnight's switch from protector to perpetrator. The motivations behind the plot are plausible, however, the main causes are caught up mainly in the back story that occurred before the time of the novel.

Overall, it is a great work of escapist fiction when all you want to do is curl up with a good book.

She's an ordinary young woman with an ordinary life. The daughter and only child of William and Ellen Goodnight, Shelley longs to emerge from under her parents' protective wings and spread her own, getting her own apartment and her own life. But when she and some girlfriends on a camping trip stumble across a dead body, her new life turns upside down.

Shelley realizes the murdered man is her coworker Farrell Gilbert, whose desk was right next to her own in her father's real estate company. Worse, the sheriff and his deputies seem to think she's the killer. Only one young man, another deputy named Clay Cameron, believes in her innocence; he risks life, limb, and career to see she remains safe. It does not help to think her own father is one of the culprits.

. . . And Night Falls by Tommie Lyn is a very well-crafted thriller and murder mystery, pitting Shelley and Cameron against almost everyone else in her life. Set in Lyn's own stomping grounds of Pensacola, Florida, it's full of great surprises and plot twists. It takes them through a vicious hurricane, then in a cross-country chase while conspirators and a hit man lurk around every corner.

'...and night falls' is a well-written novel that keeps you guessing til the end. The characters are believable and true to life and you find yourself rooting for them as the story moves along at a great pace. The well-described setting IS familiar to locals, but outsiders will have no trouble picturing it for themselves with Lyn's great descriptions.
A wonderful read that I have and will recommend!

This was my first Tommie Lyn novel, but it most definitely won't be my last Tommie Lyn novel. Usually when I read these so called romantic mystery novel's I have it figured out before a couple of chapters are read. And Night Falls kept me guessing right to the end, and for once I got it wrong.

I only gave it four out of five stars because I thought the romance was a little over the top for me. However, I know that some people like that kind of quick romantic connection. Even with that, I found that I couldn't put this book down. I wanted to know if Shelly was going to figure it all out before it was too late. I wanted to know if Clay would solve the case, or if his biased partner would twist the evidence the way he wanted it to go.

From the finding of a dead body while camping start to the shoot out at the end the book was great. Add a hurricane into the mix and you have more action than most action movies. The characters seemed real and the drama wasn't forced. The romance was tolerable but barely for a guy. Scripturally it was sound as well but not an in your face kind of religious book. If you want a good rainy or snowy night read this is the one for you. And if you figure out the killer before the end then you are doing better than me.

I found much to like about "... And Night Falls," and a few things that didn't quite work out for me. The prologue set the stage well and drew me into the story. However, when I started chapter one, where we first meet the protagonist, twenty-something Shelly Goodnight, something felt off, although I wasn't sure what. In this section, Shelly, who has lived with her parents in the nine months since her divorce, is telling her Mother that she wants to "stand on her own two feet" and her first step is going to be moving into her own apartment. It isn't that her claim lacks in sincerity. That is true, but intended. I don't think it was anything in the author's writing style. Whatever it was, I quickly got past it and was drawn back into the story.

However, I did find later instances where Shelly's actions didn't ring true. The most egregious was a situation where she pulled out a pen and paper and began writing down notes about the situation she'd found herself in. That part was mostly credible, but then it evolved into an exercise in free association that seemed unrealistic, not just for this character, but also for most people. It was also a crucial point in the story, where Shelly makes some mental connections and realizes a few things that enable her (and the story) to flow to the logical conclusion.

The ending was mostly satisfying. Each of the different story threads were tied off in an acceptable fashion, with two exceptions. One involved possible repercussions to Shelly's father. This was left vague, with Shelly concluding that whatever happened would be alright. This felt too wish-washy and, for Shelly to conclude anything without having a better idea of what might happen, it was hard to believe she would know how she felt. The other loose end is related to a subsidiary character who was apparently a red herring. I shouldn't say anything more about this, but can say the explanation, while implied, created new questions.

Despite some sticking points, I was able to get back into the story each time. My suspension of disbelief was temporarily shaken, but never permanently shattered. With the exception of these bumps in the road, the story was quite good. Different sub-threads are woven together in such a way that I could see how they related, but enough was held back to give the reader plenty of new discoveries to make as the story reaches its climax.

**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **