Sunday 16 March 2008

Reading right now: A Visible Darkness by Jonathan King


I discovered Dave Barry and Carl Hiassen through their columns in the Miami Herald during my stays in South Florida. Jonathan King writes for the Sun-Sentinel, but I don't remember him, probably because I seldom bought that paper, and probably because as a journalist his focus was on crime stories.

It took me awhile to get into A Visible Darkness: I was distracted by publishing issues of my own. Also, I found the protagonist a bit distant, and the perpetrator of the crimes very off-putting, poor guy. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood for reality at its grittiest, seamiest and saddest. That said, the story began to seep into me little by little, and I credit King's mastery in transposing the South Florida landscape and making it a vital element of his story.
  • "Tormented by the demons of his past, Max Freeman rarely ventures beyond his secluded shack in the Florida Everglades. But he can't ignore the recent string of suspicious deaths of elderly women that the police have been unable, or unwilling, to investigate. His best friend urges him to get involved and act like the cop he's trying to forget he was. To discover an unseen killer, Max must confront the dangers of the city streets—and the unexpected shadows of his own past."
An enjoyable read, once I got past my initial detachment. The first three chapters are here.

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