The story in Lisa Unger’s latest book, Darkness, My Old Friend, takes place in the small town of The Hollows in upstate New York and follows several characters, pulling the reader along to the conclusion of the book. Jones Cooper forced to retire from The Hollows police department is struggling to cope with his new status with too much time on his hands. Michael Holt grew up in The Hollows and recently returned. He’s been haunted all his life by the disappearance of his mother years ago, and has come back to try and solve the mystery of her desertion. Teenager Willow Graves moved from Manhattan six month earlier with her novelist mother after a bitter divorce.

The stories of these three characters comes together to form the basis of this suspenseful novel. A lot of questions surround exactly what happened on the night of Michael’s mother, Marla, disappearance and Jones gets drawn into the intrigue. Enough other characters and storylines are woven throughout to add interest for the reader and create additional questions that need to be resolved.

The characters in this novel are interesting and they just keep showing up in this book, one by one, chapter by chapter. The writing is so beautiful, the plot so exciting, that it doesn’t matter that you can’t see how all of the characters and storylines are related to each other. It all comes together and in the end, people are who they were all along, but changed by the events, irretrievably changed, some for the better.

If you haven’t read a book by Lisa Unger and love mysteries or medium to light thrillers, this is the author for you. Her stories and characters have such depth. Nothing is ever as it seems at first.

Like your mysteries with some giggles? You might want to try either of my novels, Roman Circus or The Colors of Death. Both of the light mysteries are filled with humor and just a hint of romance.

Roman Circus – www.nobleromance.com

The Colors of Death – www.writewordsinc.com

“I’ve always wondered what people felt like in the final few hours of their lives.”

The narrator, Sandra Jones, a young mother, wife and teacher, continues to describe her normal evening up till she’s in bed and then, she hears a noise in the hall and… he steps into the room.She doesn’t scream – she doesn’t want to wait her daughter.  Do you have shivers yet? I sure did. From there the story jumps to Sergeant Detective D.D. Warren of the Boston Police Department who is assign to a missing persons case – yup, Sandy Jones. D.D. goes to the Joneses house and is struck by how normal it is….almost staged. Not too messy, not too neat. She’s puzzled that the Jason Jones waited almost three hours before calling the police. He is a devoted father to his four-year-old daughter, Ree, a precocious  little cutey. The young couple don’t have friends or relatives. They go to work, take care of their child and are….normal. Or are they? We know right away that Jason has secrets, bad ones.

From there the book is told in alternating voices: D.D., Jason, Sandy’s  emotionally cold husband, a neighbor and several other minor players. When Jason is confronted in his backyard by Aiden Brewster, the neighbor, the man tells him he heard a car by the Jones’ house in the middle of the night. Jason is suspicious of the man – was his wife having an affair with Aiden? They are close to the same age and live only a few houses apart. Aiden warn Jason that the cops will be looking at him. After all, isn’t it usually the husband who did it?

There are so many twists and turns in the book that it leaves you breathless. So many possibilities – so many suspects. Both Sandy and Jason have secrets in their pasts, and Gardner teases us throughout the book, only letting a little out at a time until – well, you just cannot put the book down. While I thought the ending was a bit rushed, it was still satisfying because all or most of the loose ends were neatly tied up. Is there a happy ending? You’ll have to get a copy of the book to find out! I’m not telling!

The book starts when a body is found (always a good way to start a mystery) posed on the edge of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia. It’s winter, she only wearing a vintage dress and she’s covered with ice. How long has she been sitting there and why didn’t anyone notice her sooner? When the detectives arrive and start working the scene, they find something even more gruesome. The woman’s feet have been hacked off.

Another young woman is found dead, dressed in vintage clothing – but she’s still got her feet. The detectives are scratchng their heads trying to figure out a link between the murdered woman, when – yup another one shows up. During the course of the novel we hearthe voice of the killer and believe me, it’s chilling. Montanari writes in short, crisp chapters that keep the reader turning pages. It’s hard to put this one down.

The homicide cops, Jessica Balzano and Kevin Byrne are interesting and work well together slowly analyzing the clues until the very exciting climatic end. I really liked the one of the new cops in squad – an Amish man, Josh Botragner, who is constantly shaking hands with everyone and who likes to tell Amish jokes. Josh was a refreshing change to the usual homicide cop personas.

I do have two small nits to pick with this book. Jessica, a 30-something married woman with a five-year-old child is … a boxer! Oy, can’t we EVER just have a policewoman or homicide detective who’s just a woman! Why do they have to box, or do some other very rough masculine sport? I find this a LOT in books written by men and really, is it necessary? I think a woman can be feminine and still do the job. 

My other small nit is that we never really know WHY the serial killer is the way he is. I know, I know – most of them are born that way but…there were some very tantilizing hints along the way about the killer’s childhood that basically went no where.  Montanari has written other novels with the same homicide detectives and I’ll definitely try to find them. “Merciless” was one of those marvelous books one starts reading and simply cannot put down.

Okay, back to perusing my galleys. I have a romance novel coming out the beginning of August so have to get hustling. Watch for further notices here on “Call Sign: Love.” Yes, it’s a romance but…it features dupties, a pervert running through town, and huge fire in the East County, mystery and…a dog, of course!

Till nex time…

When plastic surgery resident Dr. Jackson Maebry’s girlfriend, Allie, is brought into the ER beaten and burned almost beyond recognition, he is shocked. Trying to help in her recovery, he hides the fact that he, not only knows her, but that the two have been having a relationship. Of course this turns out to be a huge mistake.

There are so many twists and turns in this book, I often had to put it down and take a deep breath. I read a lot of mysteries and all too often figure them out fairly quickly. Not so with this book. I really didn’t discover whodunit until the end when all was revealed. It’s tightly plotted and the medical information is fascinating, if a bit icky in parts. It might be a little hard to find as the publication date is 2002, but do look around and try to get a copy. It will be will worth your effort.

I’ve checked and as far as I can tell, this is Gilder’s only book in print to date. I sure hope he’s working on another one!