Investigative journalist for WSMV-TV in Nashville, Jeremy Finley’s debut thriller explores what happens to people’s lives when our world intersects with the unexplainable. “The lights took him.” When the seven-year-old grandson of U.S. Senator vanishes in the woods behind his home, the only witness is his older brother who whispers, “The lights took him,” and then never speaks again. As the FBI … speaks again.
As the FBI and National Guard launch a massive search, the boys’ grandmother Lynn Roseworth fears only she knows the truth. But coming forward would ruin her family and her husband’s political career.
In the late 1960s, before she became the quiet wife of a politician, Lynn was a secretary in the astronomy department at the University of Illinois. It was there where she began taking mysterious messages for one of the professors; messages from people desperate to find their missing loved ones who vanished into beams of light.
Determined to find her beloved grandson and expose the truth, she must return to the work she once abandoned to unravel the existence of a place long forgotten by the world. It is there, buried deep beneath the bitter snow and the absent memories of its inhabitants, where her grandson may finally be found.
But there are forces that wish to silence her. And Lynn will find how far they will go to stop her, and how the truth about her own forgotten childhood could reveal the greatest mystery of all time.
Jeremy Finley’s debut The Darkest Time of Night was hailed by People magazine and the NY Post as one of the best books of the summer of 2018, was named to the Lariat list as one of the top 25 outstanding books of the year, and described by NPR as “a hugely satisfying, while still mystifying, suspense novel.”
June 2018 SIBA Okra Selection
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A long-overdue Close Encounters for the modern age, The Darkest Time of Night is a top notch, scary and all-too-real debut with Hollywood written all over it. Thrilling speculative fiction at its finest. Finley is a talented new name to watch.
I can say without reservation that The Darkest Time of Night is an absolute must for anyone who has enjoyed The X-Files. Even if you are not an X-Files devotee (and I am not), you will find yourself engrossed until the last page. The Darkest Time of Night combines science fiction and mystery with family drama and wins on all fronts. A compelling read.
Strange disappearances, mysterious lights, flocking ladybugs, a single gravestone in the woods — Jeremy Finley weaves it all together into a delightful mystery with a sci-fi twist that makes the unbelievable seem totally plausible. Fasten your seatbelt, lock your doors, and don’t go into the woods!
The Darkest Time of Night is a gripping and graceful thriller that conjures moody atmosphere and haunting circumstances into a rich read. Perfect for fans of the X-Files, Whitley Strieber, and Stranger Things, author Jeremy Finley delivers the goods in this compelling novel that will have you turning pages — and turning up the lights.
The X-Files meets The Good Wife. With a twisty surprise on every page, this seamlessly written and captivating thriller is edgy, unique and incredibly thought-provoking. Jeremy Finley is a star.
From the first page, I was hooked on Jeremy Finley’s action-packed thriller. Tension crackles, mysteries abound, and conspiracies escalate in this crisply-written and imaginative novel. As the indomitable heroines (think Thelma and Louise) race against time and UFOs to find a missing child, Finley’s unerring sense of pacing and suspense will make you read far into the darkest time of night.
Sci-Fi is not usually first on my preferred reading list, so I was surprised when a colleague recommended Jeremy Findley’s THE DARKEST TIME OF NIGHT, but on her recommendation, I bought a copy and was thoroughly impressed. His novel, set mostly in Nashville, wraps a spellbinding mystery inside a “quick-turn-the page” science fiction thriller. There is much to love in this debut novel–an engaging setting, fully-fleshed, credible characters and a compelling plot with enough twists and turns to keep you up all night. But what I loved the most was Findley’s deft handling of his first person narrator, a sixty-something grandmother and matriarch of the powerful Rosworth family. His choice of such an unusual POV was striking, unusual and, because it is so credible, worth the read alone. If your tastes run toward thrillers or mysteries or credible science fiction, you will likely not be disappointed with THE DARKEST TIME OF NIGHT. Except for how long you’ll have to wait for a sequel. Spoiler alert: it’s due out this July. I can’t wait. It’s already on my reading list.
“…You are where the water falls.”
“PRAYER FOR THE MISSING You are not gone, as long as I remember. You are not away, as long as I weep. You have not vanished, as long as I can picture your face. You are with me. You are in the rain. You are in my tears. You are where the water falls.”
Lynn Roseworth is a mother and grandmother. She is also the wife to a U.S. Senator for Tennessee.
But before all this she worked in the office of a Professor of Astronomy at the University of Illinois. She found he also had an obsession he also worked on about strangely disappearing people that she in turn gets pulled into and is an equal partner with him on researching the disappearances.
She eventually quits her job as his obsession gets worse plus her husband’s political career is heating up. But many years later one of her grandsons disappears and his older brother goes mute except for one phrase “The lights took him.”
I loved this story. I also loved that Lynn, the protagonist of the story, wasn’t a “pretty young thang” but a grandmother almost seventy years old.
The characters are great. The story is a fun ‘what if’ tale.
I’m now off to read the second book in the series about Lynn and her grandson THE DARK ABOVE.
One of the best reads I have had in a long time. Have you ever wondered why some people disappear never to be found again? A possible answer is found by the female protagonist of the book and her best friend, both in their 70s. The suspense is masterfully developed and comes through at the end with a shattering climax. You must read this book!