James Grippando, Under Cover of Darkness (Avon, 2000)Boy, does this novel start out wonderfully. A workaholic lawyer discovers his wife has gone missing. A local FBI agent with an eye towards the serial killers' profiling unit is given the job of liaison between the branch office and the rep from Washington, her idol, after dumping her groom at the altar for sleeping with her sister. The missing wife might be dead...or she might be an accomplice to a string of serial killings. People keep turning up dead. And somehow, a fitness guru factors into it all. Everything's set up perfectly.Then it all goes down the tubes. The last fifty pages or so of this novel have "Hollywood ending" written all over them, as if just before he started writing them, Grippando got word that this book had been optioned, and he had to come up with an ending that would work in Hollywood. The whole tone changes; what would have taken two hundred pages earlier in the novel is rushed into far less than half that. Aside from the lack of wires and big masks, a lot of the ending has "deus ex machina" stamped on it.That's not to say it's not worth reading for the first three quarters of the book. Just beware the last quarter and the disappointment that comes with it. ** ½
The book begins a little slowly and there is too much focus on the work life of Gus Wheatley, it is hard to conceive that:-a)tHe would work so many hours a week andb)tThat Beth would have stayed so long.It feels that like some of the detail in places is padding getting rid of Martha at end via a call from Washington, which is not necessary as the book is long enough.The history lesson about Yakima softens up the reader as Andie finds her demons, very good...Irritating bits:-Was weekend retreat at the farm? If not how did Isaac know where the farm was?When Martha’s letter arrived would he really have gone back to bed, with a cup of coffee.Dex lay languidly, he had just been shot!!Phone; Mary had a little lamb etc. not sure how this could have been done from a pay phone.What do we got??? Said IsaacAndie knew it was them because she recognises an AK47?
Do You like book Under Cover Of Darkness (2001)?
I agree with a previous review--this novel starts off well. But the ending is silly. Perhaps not silly, but not clever or compelling. A cult? Seriously??
—Robyn
Having read a number of Grippando's books, I would rate this to be one of the better ones so far. The combination of serial killers and cults combines to make it very interesting. Somehow the author manages to keep multiple subplots all going at the same time without ever getting the reader confused. I do not know if he has written any other books that include the same characters, but if he has I will definitely read them. Also, by getting away from his standards plots based in south Florida and moving to Puget Sound and Seattle, he has moved to a much more interesting and less predictable part of the country.
—Ken Drews
A very good thriller. it kept me turning pages throughout. Gus Wheatley is a high powered attorney workaholic whose wife goes missing. Meanwhile, bodies start showing up, one looking like Beth Wheatley. When Gus is called in to identify her, he is relieved that it isn't her but curious about how similar the characteristics are between his wife and the victim. He works with the FBI to find his wife while learning things about her that surprise him. He bgins to realize that he has neglected his family for years.
—Judee
