Chasing Darkness (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Chase," the voice said when Sam mumbled "Hello" into the receiver..." (more)
Key Phrases: crime scene team, Sam Chase, Sandi Walters, Aunt Sam (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this taut psychological thriller, Girard (Ruthless Game) portrays the effects of child abuse with clarity and honesty, demonstrating how some victims turn into victimizers while others choose to guard the innocent. Samantha Chase, a special agent for the Department of Justice and a former homicide detective, spends her time apprehending child abusers and caring for her orphaned twin nephews. At all times she represses her own traumatic childhood experiences and maintains an aloof distance from her colleagues, friends and family. But when a copycat killer begins targeting women who are connected to Sam through her cases, her life starts to unravel. Her colleagues wonder what she's hiding behind her icy veneer could she be a rogue cop? and a single-minded police chief who's convinced of her guilt is determined to put her away. Sam's primary ally is her ex-lover, Detective Nick Thomas, but his lingering affection for her may place her life in jeopardy. As Sam and Nick come nearer to uncovering the killer, disturbing secrets about Sam's past and her nephews' bleak childhood come to light. Girard maintains the novel's swift pacing and high tension, but a too perfect denouement detracts from the stark, realistic canvas she has created. Still, this is a compelling thriller and a skillful treatment of a difficult topic.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

The acclaimed author of Ruthless Game and Savage Art returns with a chilling new novel about a female agent, a serial killer, and the secret past that links them.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Onyx (March 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451410238
• ISBN-13: 978-0451410238
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 3.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,279,119 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars high voltage thriller, March 3, 2002

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

She was a homicide detective in the Sheriff's department but she became sick of dealing with death all the time so she transferred over to the State of California of Department of Justice working mainly with abuse victims. At the same time she transferred jobs Sam Chase unexpectedly gained guardianship of her twin eight-year-old nephews. Their parents died in a car crash and their deceased mother (Sam's late sister) did not want her family in Mississippi even getting near them.

Eight years later Sam and her two nephews Derek and Rob are a family. Sam is a success at work and envied by her peers when one of her old cases comes back to haunt her. The mother of a child abuse victim is found murdered and Sam is forced to work with Derek Thomas of the Sheriff's department since the victim looks like she was murdered by a serial killer that Sam once caught. Since the killer is dead, the police are working on the assumption that it's a copycat killer until another homicide is committed and Sam is linked to both deaths.

Danielle Girard is a name to watch because she's rapidly reading the level of a Nancy Taylor Rosenberg or a Sandra Brown. CHASING DARKNESS is a tightly woven thriller that shines a dark light on the evil things done to children and shows how it affects them long after the abuse stops. The strange and off beat romance that develops between Sam and Derek is a realistic necessary subplot to reduce the tension, which becomes unbelievably high voltage at times. This one sitting read entertains as well as educates.

Harriet Klausner

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Girard home run; by the author of PRESSURE POINTS, April 16, 2002

By	Larry D Brooks (West Linn, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews

If you've read Danielle Girard before, then chances are you're among her growing legion of fans. As with her previous thrillers, in CHASING DARKNESS she once again layers a frightening plot with finely crafted psychological backstory that invests the reader in the characters. Because she takes the time to craft these characters so deeply, these people come alive on the pages, and when the twists and turns arrive you find yourself dizzy along with them. In a publishing world in which the so-called "big" books are too often nothing more than annointed marketing strategies penned by average writers, Danielle Girard is the real deal, a writer of great craftsmanship and skill who is unafraid to open dark doors and shove you down into the cellar of her vision, leaving you breathless when you emerge, touched and entertained and hungry for her next novel. Get on board now, because her career is headed to the moon. Buy this book, because this is what you're looking for in a great mystery/thriller read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating tale of murder, abuse and survival, September 19, 2002

By	S. Gould "gouldpjaks" (Woodmere, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is the first book that I have read by Danielle Girard. I only hope her others are as good because I will be reading them all. "Chasing Darkness" is a great thriller. It contains enough suspense to keep me reading long into the night. However, it is the disturbing yet artfully revealed details about the child abuse and family relationships that made me want to keep reading when the story had ended.