Steven Gore

It’s time to come clean. For Judge Ray McMullin, that means confiding in his friend Harlan Donnally about a judgment he made from the bench twenty years ago. The convicted man, Israel Dominguez, is still on death row with time running out. He’s reached out in a letter to McMullin. Donnally is a former San Francisco homicide detective. The Judge wants him to review the investigation. On the night of the Edgar Rojo Sr’s murder, Rojo had received a phone call, walked to his apartment show more window on the second floor, and was fatally shot from ground level. But from where Dominguez was standing, was the shot even possible at that extreme angle? They were members of rival gangs — Rojo for the Norteños and Dominguez for the Sureños.

Another reason the Judge wants to revisit this case is his own health. He’s showing signs of alzheimers and just needs confirmation – was the conviction valid; was the sentencing fair? Donnally is facing alzheimers in his own family as well. His father, Donald Harlan, a well-known film director, is desperately trying to complete one more film. But, he’s very hush-hush about the film. Will it turn out to be a jumbled mess, or a masterpiece?

I liked the character of Harlan Donnally and his longtime girlfriend, Janie Nguyen, who is a Psychiatrist. They are both portrayed as very mature and responsible. The gang members and gang rivalry was described very realistically. Donnally had himself been caught in gang cross-fire just months before the Rojo shooting. But, pacing of the story falls off with the amount of detail provided in his research as well as the by-stories of the Judge’s and Donald Harlan’s alzheimers. I rated Night is the Hunter at 3.5 out of 5. show less

This is the second volume of a trilogy about a retired San Francisco cop, Harlan Donnally. I haven't yet read the first, Act of Deceit, but that didn't matter as this works well as a stand-alone. Having said that, I'll be reading the first book very soon because I want to know more about Donnally.

The book begins with Donnally and his friend, SF cop Ramon Navarro, in the shadows of the Golden Gate Bridge where they can see a body hanging. The victim's pants are down around his ankles and show more plainly visible is what for the sake of delicacy I will call priapism. Apparently the object was to humiliate him, something he richly deserved as a sleezy lawyer who never let the law or any sense of ethics stop him from making money. His name was Mark Hamlin. He had left word with his assistant and a note in his desk that if something happened to him, he wanted Donnally to investigate, no one else.

Donnally had been shot in the hip in the line of duty several years earlier. He had retired, left the city, settled in a small town in northern California, and opened a small restaurant there. Still he stays in the city a few times each month because his girlfriend, Janie, a hospital psychiatrist, lives in his home there. He is there visiting her and doing little repair jobs around the house when he gets the call about Hamlin's wishes.

The D.A., Navarro, Donnally, and a judge they trust decide to appoint straight arrow Donnally a "special master" to discover who murdered Hamlin, but not get into attorney-client privilege issues or complications. Ha! Just try to do that and still solve the crime.

I would call this one a thinking person's kind of legal thriller and it's a winner. Author Steven Gore gets into not only what happened but particularly why and looks deep into the characters' backgrounds for answers to who they are at the time of this murder. There is some danger and some shooting, but mainly it's the story of Donnally and the other major characters involved. And it's the story of corruption, a widespread evil that hurts mainly legal clients but also investigators and other lawyers.

Highly recommended
E-book released July 30, 2013
Source: HarperCollins, Publishers show less

This is my second Steven Gore novel but won't be my last. His hero, Harlan Donnally, is a cerebral former cop with a highly developed sense of right and wrong. Add in a pinch of action and danger and you have a satisfying read with a great story and characters who actually think about important issues.

Israel Dominguez is the subject of the plot in this one. He has spent 20 years on death row for the murder of a gang rival. Now he is nearing execution and the judge who presided at his show more original trial has admitted his doubts to his friend Donnally that Dominguez was actually guilty. Gang wars and the passing of time haven't cleared up anything of what happened, but Judge McMullin can't bear to just let it go.

An alternate plot line concerns dementia. Donnally's fater, a Hollywood producer familiar to anyone who has read earlier books, is showing signs of it and so is Judge McMullin. As each faces the inevitable in his own way, the emotional toll on Donnally gives this story depth that you normally don't find in a mystery novel. I like the relationship between Donnally and his girlfriend as well. This is an adult committed partnership not based on lust, but not lacking it either.

I really must read Gore's other novels. This is an author who provides thoughtful plots and characters to engage my mind.

Highly recommended
Source: LibraryThing win show less

“Night Is The Hunter” is a detective book not just about solving a crime, but about the understanding of what constitutes a crime. Can a crime be perpetrated by the court’s own prosecutor based on the way he or she handles a criminal case? This book deals not only with this, but also with the reality, injustice, and cruelty of Alzheimer’s disease. Ex-detective Harlan Donnally thought his days of police work were over when he was forced into retirement. The San Francisco Police show more Department forced him out after he received a disabling gunshot wound to his hip during a street shootout between two members of rival gangs. When the shooting started, two innocent bystanders were killed and Donnally wounded by the shooters, before he succeeded in taking down both antagonists. After years in retirement, Donnally thought this was all just ancient history. After agreeing to look into an old case for a an aging judge, the past comes back to haunt Harlan. With the life of a convicted prisoner on the line; a judge’s failing memory, and mounting self-doubt lead Donnally down a dark path to the truth about not only the innocence of a condemned man, but perhaps the truth of his own involved shooting. This is a well written, very insightful, thought provoking story of an ex-detective who is not afraid to ask the hard questions to get to the truth. It is backed by the author’s years of experience as a private investigator. show less