Random Road introduced Geneva Chase – “a reporter with a compelling voice, a damaged woman who recounts her own bittersweet story as she hunts down clues,” says Library Journal – to murders straight out of a nightmare – six bodies found naked and cut to ribbons in a posh Connecticut home. Having survived this and a personal tragedy, Geneva’s story still includes alcoholism and career challenges … and career challenges compounded by the rocky finances of her newspaper employer. But she’s working. She’s fighting the urge to reconnect with a magnetic yet married lover. And she’s raising a rebellious young lady who is not her daughter but a cherished legacy.
Nevertheless the newshound in Geneva spurs her to bad if not downright dangerous choices as two unrelated crimes unexpectedly collide. A fifteen-year-old-girl at her ward’s high school has vanished along with her English teacher. Is this same-old, same-old, or something more? And then there’s the abused woman who torched her sadistic husband, and how to keep her out of the clutches of powerful mobsters – and thus, out of the news.
Out on the crime beat, Geneva works to unravel the connection, if any, between these two disparate stories while her newspaper is put up for sale, a high-flying Hollywood production lights up the town, and her personal battles accelerate. Jarring twists and turns include charming movie stars, treacherous diamond merchants, adultery, sex traffickers, and murder. While the clock ticks and Geneva works desperately to find the missing student, she comes to the horrible realization that she’s in over her head.
Darkness Lane, the second novel in the Geneva Chase Mystery Series, hurtles along at a breakneck speed where nothing is what it seems, and where art and reality collide in a terrifying climax.
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Tom Kies’ Geneva Chase mystery, Darkness Lane is a real, gritty tale of a reporter’s life. Geneva is a bit of an anti-hero. She is an alcoholic and a bit of a narcissist, often choosing her own comforts over those of others. Yet, when her daughter’s friend goes missing, she becomes emotionally involved and puts her own life at risk to learn what has happened to the girl.
Darkness Lane explores organized crime, drug and human trafficking, our worship of celebrities and the impact of big business on our economy. We become immersed in the relationship of Geneva with her ward, Caroline. The sometimes role-reversal of mother and daughter, and proof, that family isn’t about DNA but about who you’re willing to risk everything for.
Tom gives the reader some hard facts but he tempers it with emotion and character that rounds this story out into a satisfying read.
Thrown back into being a crime reporter, Geneva gets tangled in two big stories. When the two intertwine, she uses players from one to help solve the other. But is she not seeing the whole picture? What details has she missed? Could this lapse be due to her alcohol consumption or the stars in her eyes? Could her life be the price she has to pay for her mistakes or will her daughter be the one who pays the price?
If you are looking for a good, crime thriller with intense characters and real criminal activity, check out Darkness Lane. But I warn you, you won’t be able to put it down.
Geneva Chase .. a multi-layered character. She’s a reporter for a newspaper that may be sold, a damaged woman who is an alcoholic, albeit a high functioning one. She’s been married three times, has had two affairs with married men, and always seems to be making the wrong decisions. She is also legal guardian to a teenager, Caroline the daughter of a man she had planned to marry before his death.
Caroline’s best friend has gone missing and the police turn up a video showing Bobbi Jarvis getting into a car driven by her school coach. Just a few days prior, Bobbi’s dad was murdered. Is there a connection? Geneva was the one who found Bobbi’s dad … she’s still having nightmares about what she saw.
Geneva is also investigating a woman accused of murdering her husband … after surviving more than 20 years of physical abuse. This case leads her to some very bad men. She’s been followed, a gun has been shot through her living room window, and her ‘daughter’ has been threatened.
Suddenly these seemingly unconnected crimes start to merge. Jarring twists and turns include charming movie stars, treacherous diamond merchants, adultery, sex traffickers, and murder. While the clock ticks and Geneva works desperately to find the missing student, she comes to the horrible realization that she’s in over her head.
This is very well written with a terrific leading character. Geneva is definitely flawed, but she’s doing all she can to fight her private demons. Caroline is the typical teenage girl .. a little surly, part little girl part young woman.
Although this is second in a series, it does quite well as a stand alone — just enough background information to keep the reader interested, not enough to keep the reader from wanting to take a look at RANDOM ROAD .. the first book. There’s a bit of cliff hanger that leads me to believe there will be a third installment coming.
Many thanks to the author / Poisoned Pen Press / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.