Under Cover of Darkness

"But most of all," she said, her voice shaking, "I want to thank Linda, my lovely sister and maid of honor." She glared to her right.

"For sleeping with the groom last night."

Under Cover Of Darkness by James Grippando

Man oh man, I loved this book. This was one tightly wound, intense read. This was a fresh take on the "wife is missing" plot and wow did I enjoy it. My eyes couldn't leave the page.

The writing is great, the mystery original and the pacing is excellent.

Usually, with this type of book, I do sort of expect something average, maybe a bit dated, cliche. No way! This was a fresh plot that always managed to keep the reader guessing.

Also, the book grabbed me from the start. And yes I'd recommend it. That's a given!

The writer is show more great at crafting tension. It is a fast paced story that I could not pull myself out of. But also the dialogue keeps coming and it never goes the way of to bizarre or to crazy. I loved it.

It doesn't fall apart at the end either. I liked the gritty feel of the book which had unexpected moments of wit as well. Good choice for a mystery fan! show less

A very enjoyable book, for the most part! It got a little predictable toward the end, but it makes up for it by being very suspenseful throughout the rest of the story.

What I mean is this: In most of the crime novels I’ve read thus far, the reader gets enough glimpses from the bad guy’s p.o.v. that he/she can pretty much work out what is going on. Then, the suspense of the novels rests on sitting back and watching the police try to put together clues.

This one was different.

It gave almost no clues as to what has really happened. Therefore, the suspense becomes that of a true whodunit, whatdidtheydo, howdidtheydoit, etc.

Once the “bad guy’s” side of the story was more or less revealed, though, it became fairly predictable. But show more not enough so for me to not recommend this book/author to a fellow friend of crime mystery novels.

And little Morgan will just break your heart! I'm not even that big of a fan of children and I found her adorable. ^_^ show less

I'm not sure why I've never read any of Grippando's other books. This one, his latest, is set in Seattle and my bookshop owner put it in my hands with a request that I give it a go. I did and now I'm going back to check out his others. Gus Wheatley is the youngest managing partner his prestigious law firm has ever had. He's married to his job. His wife and daughter are just trappings. And then his wife goes missing. Is the a victim of a serial killer who's been making the rounds in Seattle? If so, why hasn't her body turned up? His life is turned outside in as he tries to find out and rediscovers what's important to him.

This was sitting on the bookshelf awhile so I picked it up late Fri night and finished Sat afternoon. Fast moving, some interesting plot twists, everything not tied up all neat and tidy at the end. While Grippando fleshes out the main characters just enough to get you through the story, his ability to get you to visualize the locales is impressive.

good writer, bad ending

I will need to re-read this book as I don't truly know if I like it or not...

VERY GOOD