Sunday, August 21, 2011

Darkness All Around-Doug Magee

Darkness All Around
Doug Magee
Touchstone, Oct 18 2011, $25.00
ISBN: 9781439154021

In Braden, Pennsylvania Risa was married to Sean who became an alcoholic, had blackouts and at times failed to come home at night. In one nasty week, Sean vanished and Risa’s best friend Carol was brutally murdered.

Ten years later, Risa is married to Alan who adopted Kevin, her son with Sean, as his. Alan is running for Congress. Sean rocks Risa’s world when he calls Statesman reporter Henry to arrange a meeting the next day. He receives a pass from the hospital where he currently resides and Sean heads home to ask the journalist if he ever saw any pictures of Carol’s death scene. Henry describes what he saw; Sean now knows for sure he killed Carol on the night he drove to New York as he knew the death scene and the bruises on the corpse before he heard the reporter’s description. Sean goes to the local police but Alan has the authorities throw him out of town. Risa considers G.G who was convicted of the homicide is innocent as is she believes her first husband. As Risa risks her marriage, her social standing and her life (and that of her son), Alan does everything to get the one “evil” ex out of their lives.

Darkness All Around is an exciting romantic suspense that grips readers from the moment Sean returns to town. The cast is fully developed so that the audience understands what motivates the key players to behave the way they have now and a decade ago. Doug Magee writes a taut thriller in which the suspense is front and center while the romantic subplot supports the mystery.

Harriet Klausner

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