REVIEW

DARKNESS INSIDE - John Rickards

Reviewed By
Karen Chisholm

True confession time.  I really didn't expect to like THE DARKNESS INSIDE.  Oh dear, I thought to myself - appalling child mistreatment again.  Oh bother, I muttered - another bitter and twisted ex-FBI agent / lone wolf PI / life sucks / let's just get this case over / I can take all the hammering you can throw at me....   Luckily I very rarely listen to anybody, and I include myself in that rule.  

Now you can't for a moment pretend that there are not some very unpleasant aspects to THE DARKNESS INSIDE.  The main case in this book is the unsolved abduction and disappearance of a large number of young girls.  In most cases a body has never been found, no trace of the girls ever seen again, no idea what happened to them.  Cody Williams is the prime suspect for all of those disappearances, but nothing could ever be proven / found. Luckily Williams is found guilty of the, somewhat inexplicable, murder of a serial rapist operating in the same area.  Maybe Williams killed him because he was stealing his limelight, maybe he was just a homicidal maniac - the general consensus at the time was "who cares".  Only Williams cared quite a bit, and when he's diagnosed with terminal cancer he wants to talk to Rourke.  

Rourke's not that thrilled with the idea of talking to Williams, and he's less than impressed when details of the cases of the girls are hard to get, but the families really want to know where the bodies of their little girls are.  When Williams plays his winning hand - one of his victims, Holly Tynon is still alive, Rourke is suddenly deeply involved.  What he reveals in his search for Holly casts light on the truly revolting in society.  Clubs of child-molesters, murderers and gangsters - willing to do anything to protect themselves are part of Rourke's problem - but when his own friends are threatened, then the stakes are raised even higher.

There's an overwhelming sense of justice in the face of great evil in THE DARKNESS INSIDE.  Rourke's path to discovering the truth and maybe recovering Holly is littered with people very motivated to protect themselves; people who are just flat out scared; or people who are finding everything just a bit too much to cope with.  Starting off with the support of his partner in the PI firm, Rourke is cut loose even by him in the end as his notoriety grows. Rourke discovers very quickly that sometimes you end up on the wrong side of society yourself when you're fighting those who are happiest over there anyway.

Ultimately what works in THE DARKNESS INSIDE is that sense of connection with Rourke.  The subject matter is unpleasant, the ending unexpected, and sure Rourke's a bit of a loose cannon, a major risk taker and there are points when he's a bit of an energiser bunny, but he sticks with what he's doing because he really feels a connection with the families of those child victims.  

BOOK DETAILS
BOOK INFORMATION
Author
ISBN
9780141021164
Year of Publication
BLURB

Seven years ago, Cody Williams was the FBI's prime suspect in a series of horrific New England abductions.  

Seven years ago, Alex Rourke put Cody Williams behind bars.  Now Cody Williams is dying.  He wants to set the record straight.  And he'll only talk to Alex....

Former FBI Agent Rourke has successfully reinvented himself as a private detective, but he's still haunted by the Williams case. And facing the monster again will mean squaring up to some demons from the past.  For Cody has nothing left to lose - and a big final hand to play.

When it appears that one of Cody's victims, Holly Tynon, might be alive but still held hostage, Alex is left to make a terrible choice that, either way, will mean the end of at least one life ...

Review DARKNESS INSIDE - John Rickards
Karen Chisholm
Friday, January 18, 2008
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