Out of the Dark [Paperback]

Natasha Cooper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2002

The fourth in Natasha Cooper's Trish Maguire series, OUT OF THE DARK is a touching and gripping novel in the bestselling tradition of Frances Fyfield. An eight-year-old boy comes running out of the dark to find barrister Trish Maguire one wet Sunday night. Just before he can get to her, he's knocked over by a skidding car. Fighting to save his life, the casualty team find Trish's name and address sewn into his clothes. The police are convinced that he looks like her and must be her son. Only Trish knows he can't be. Recovering from a miscarriage, about to go to court with a career-changing commercial case, missing her partner, George, who is 5000 miles away, the last thing Trish wants is responsibility for a lost boy. But there is no one else. Her search for his identity takes her to a brutal inner-city housing estate, where she has to confront not only the reality of life for people whose Giros cannot be made to last the week, but also many of her own fears. News of a particularly brutal murder reaches her only hours before she learns that her erratic father is the chief suspect. It will take all her resolution and integrity to pick her way through the maze. The gulfs between rich and poor, between the heroically honest and those for whom life and the law are always negotiable, rip off the last of Trish's self-protective blinkers. There are choices to be made and lives to be saved.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If this fourth offering in Cooper's series featuring British barrister Trish Maguire (after 2000's Prey to All) maintained its initial oomph, it would be a superb mystery. Alas, it comes up short in the end, as if the author was in the dark about how to wind up the busy plot. Responding to screeching tires and a woman's cry for help, Trish dashes from her London flat to find the driver hysterical and a seriously injured young boy pinned beneath the car. After an emergency team rushes the youngster to a hospital, Trish checks on his condition and discovers not only that she and the lad have an uncanny resemblance but that her name and address were sewn inside his clothes. Terrified, the boy refuses to divulge any information, so Trish does some investigating on her own. Trish's violent and philandering father, Paddy, left Trish and her mother while Trish was still small. Could this be his child? The relationship between Paddy Maguire and his daughter, only reestablished a few years earlier, is still rocky, but Trish must know the truth even if it means destroying still-fragile ties. A stressful court case, a miscarriage and a significant other muddy an otherwise excellent brew. Doing further damage to the story are the absolute tunnel vision of Chief Inspector Lakeshaw, who investigates the brutal murder of the boy's mother, and late and implausible developments involving the thuggish Mikey Handsome and his dear old granny, Lil. (Aug. 26)
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

London family barrister Trish Maguire (Fault Lines) struggles to learn the identity of a boy injured in a car accident outside her building. It seems he looks just like her and has her name sewn in his clothing. A riveting read.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books (July 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067103765X
• ISBN-13: 978-0671037659
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,691,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Certainly not dark, October 21, 2011

By 

micki 2 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Out of the Dark: A Trish Maguire Mystery (Trish Maguire Mysteries) (Hardcover)

This is the 4th book in the Trish Maguire series. I found this to be a very warm and loving story about a very sad situaion. It grabs you from the very start and doesn't let go. Trish as a barrister takes you into the legal system as it relates to children. A very good read. Natasha Cooper scores again with one of her characters. Very enjoyable