Night Secrets [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Thomas H. Cook (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1991

A gripping story that spirals two seemingly unrelated cases into a life and death nightmare of extraordinary danger. P.I. Frank Clamons tails two women: a sophisticate who's cheating on her husband and an exotic gypsy who claims responsibility for a brutal murder.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Frank Clemons, the Atlanta cop who followed his lover to New York and stayed on as a private eye even after they parted ( Flesh and Blood ) still haunts Manhattan's gritty streets. This time he's on two cases: days, he's tracking a wealthy man's wife as she visits other men; at night he's puzzling out the murder of a gypsy crone on 10th Ave. From his mysterious friend Farouk, whose mother was a gypsy, Frank learns that the wild-eyed young woman, called the Puri Dai, or Tribal Woman, who has confessed to the murder, belongs to an obscure gypsy sect that carries out rituals based on Christ's having fathered a child with Mary Magdalene. Frank, ineluctably drawn to the Puri Dai, is sure she is innocent and tries to clear her, even though she refuses to cooperate. Cook evokes New York's pungent atmosphere, complete with homeless people and all-night grocery stores, and makes Frank's profound loneliness palpable as he brings both cases--the nighttime one more convincingly--to satisfying conclusions. Mystery Guild selection; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club alternates.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 447 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Pr (February 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560541008
• ISBN-13: 978-1560541004
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,005,655 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

THOMAS H. COOK was born in Fort Payne, Alabama, in 1947. He has been nominated for the Edgar Award seven times in five different categories. He received the best novel Edgar for The Chatham School Affair, the Martin Beck Award, the Herodotus Prize for best historical short story, and the Barry for best novel for Red Leaves, and has been nominated for numerous other awards.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hight Secrets, February 23, 2002

By 

Don Hersey (Beloit, Wi) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Night Secrets (Paperback)

This was a very good book, it picked up where "Flesh and Blood" left off. Frank Clemons is now working and living out of his office where he sleeps on the sofa if he ever goes to sleep! He is working two cases at once, one at night and one during the day. The one at night involves a beautiful Gypsie girl who has confessed to a murder Frank knows she didn't do. It has a supprise ending that leaves you wanting more. I hope Mr. Cook writes another book that will continue the story.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars HO HUM .... SLEEPER INDEED, September 6, 2001

By 

Michael Butts (Berkeley Springs, WV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Night Secrets (Hardcover)

Thomas H. Cook's 1991 book, "Night Secrets" certainly doesn't indicate the vastly talented writer he was to become. His later books, including "Chatham School Affair," and "Places in the Dark" are outstanding examples of his expertise in writing the mysteries that involve incidents from the past and their effect on the present.
However, "Night Secrets" is a meandering, slow-paced yawner involving a burned out PI named Frank Clemons who takes on a "day case" involving a mysterious woman whose husband suspects an affair; his "night" case involves a mysterious gypsy accused of murdering an old woman. Frank's daughter committed suicide, his wife divorced him, and his lover married somebody else. No wonder; Frank is one boring guy. His insane desire for the mad gypsy woman is completely unfounded and preposterous; the denouement is really overwrought and unsuspenseful. A real sleeper, indeed. Beats Sominex.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, worth the read or listen, February 15, 2007

By 

Kelleigh Nelson "Kelleigh Nelson" (Knoxville, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Night Secrets (Paperback)

Good story and I love Farouk..but I was a bit disappointed at the story line regarding Mary Magdalene and Jesus. It was shades of Baigent and Lincoln's garbage in the book, HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL, which was copied and made into a bestseller by another fiction author. Nevertheless the story line was pretty good. Frank is such a depressing character but now there's a new twist that could make him into a new man..can't wait to read the next book!