Dark Lady
by Richard North Patterson
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In Dark Lady, Richard North Patterson displays the mastery of setting, psychology, and story that makes him unique among writers of suspense, and one of today's most original and enthralling novelists.In Steelton, a struggling Midwestern city on the cusp of an economic turnaround, two prominent men are found dead within days of each other. One is Tommy Fielding, a senior officer of the company building a new baseball stadium, the city's hope for the future. The other is Jack Novak, the show more local drug dealers' attorney of choice. Fielding's death with a prostitute, from an overdose of heroin, seems accidental; Novak is apparently the victim of a ritual murder. But in each case the character of the dead man seems contradicted by the particulars of his death. Coincidence or connection?
The question falls to Assistant County Prosecutor Stella Marz. Despite a traumatic breach with her alcoholic and embittered father, she has risen from a working-class background to become head of the prosecutor's homicide unit. A driven woman, she is called the Dark Lady by defense lawyers for her relentless, sometimes ruthless, style: in seven years only one case has gotten away from her, and only because the defendant took his own life. She has earned every inch of both her official and her off-the-record titles, and recently she's decided to go after another: to become the first woman elected Prosecutor of Erie County. But that was before the brutal murder of her ex-lover--Jack Novak.
Novak's death leads her into a labyrinth where her personal and professional lives become dangerously intertwined. There is the possibility that Novak fixed drug cases for the city's crime lord, Vincent Moro, with the help of law enforcement personnel, and perhaps with someone in Stella's own office . . . the bitter mayoral race which threatens to undermine her own ambitions . . . her attraction to a colleague who may not be what he seems . . . the lingering, complicated effects of her painful affair with Novak . . . the growing certainty that she is being watched and followed. Making her way through a maze of corruption, deceit, and greed, trusting no one, Stella comes to believe that the search for the truth involves the bleak history of Steelton itself--a history that now endangers her future, and perhaps her life.
For his uncanny dialogue, subtle delineation of character, and hypnotic narrative, critics have compared Richard North Patterson to John O'Hara and Dashiell Hammett. Now, in the character of the Dark Lady, he has created a woman as fascinating as her world is haunting. Dark Lady is his signature work.
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#1, 2004
I have read most of his books (or had, up until a few years ago; I'm probably behind by now), and have enjoyed them. He's not my favourite crime/legal drama author (right now, I'd say Patricia Cornwell holds that honour, but I'm behind on reading her newer books, as well), but he's pretty good. As was this book - It's about murder and politics in a depressed midwestern city, and I found the mystery to be well-crafted; I was able to guess a bit of the ending, but not the whole thing (just enough to make me feel smart without spoiling the end of the book ::grin::). I like the physical descriptions he gives, particularly of the characters. I'm able to really *see* them in my mind, something which is often difficult for me. Not an show more earth-shattering read, by any means, but decent for the genre. show less
I have read most of his books (or had, up until a few years ago; I'm probably behind by now), and have enjoyed them. He's not my favourite crime/legal drama author (right now, I'd say Patricia Cornwell holds that honour, but I'm behind on reading her newer books, as well), but he's pretty good. As was this book - It's about murder and politics in a depressed midwestern city, and I found the mystery to be well-crafted; I was able to guess a bit of the ending, but not the whole thing (just enough to make me feel smart without spoiling the end of the book ::grin::). I like the physical descriptions he gives, particularly of the characters. I'm able to really *see* them in my mind, something which is often difficult for me. Not an show more earth-shattering read, by any means, but decent for the genre. show less
good — many twists —
Once the prosecutor was a young law student. Once the dead man was an honest lawyer. Now Stella Marz stares at the body of her former lover, hanging from a doorway in a gruesome tableau.
For Stella Marz, the search for Jack Novak's killer leads into another bizarre homicide case, back through her own past and through the city where she was born and where now--a good Catholic girl turned career woman--she is in crisis. Somewhere in this city a hidden alliance of big money, big plans, and dark secrets is fueling a great American revival. And somehow Stella Marz will bring the darkness into the light--no matter what it reveals, no matter who it destroys. . . .
Once the prosecutor was a young law student. Once the dead man was an honest lawyer. Now Stella Marz stares at the body of her former lover, hanging from a doorway in a gruesome tableau.
For Stella Marz, the search for Jack Novak's killer leads into another bizarre homicide case, back through her own past and through the city where she was born and where now--a good Catholic girl turned career woman--she is in crisis. Somewhere in this city a hidden alliance of big money, big plans, and dark secrets is fueling a great American revival. And somehow Stella Marz will bring the darkness into the light--no matter what it reveals, no matter who it destroys. . . .
Without a doubt the darkest of mysteries in the best sense of noir. Unrelievedly depressing, expressing nothing but the seamy, underside of life, politics and economic stress. Has I not seen combat I probably owuld have committed suicide after reading this tragedy.
I liked it enough that when I realized I was reading it for the 2nd time I just kept on reading.
Read during trip to Germany. Good airplane book.
First edition as new
Stella Marz dirige la unidad de homicidios de la Fiscalía local. Es una mujer con mucho empuje,conocida por los abogados defensores como la Viuda Negra por su estilo implacable y despiadado: en siete años sólo se le escapó un caso, porque el acusado se suicidó. Ahora quiere ser la primera mujer elegida fiscal del condado. Pero hay dos brutales asesinatos que investigar, y una de las víctimas es su ex-amante, Jack Novak
Aug 19, 2020Spanish
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Richard North Patterson was born in Berkeley, California on February 22, 1947. He graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1968 and Case Western Reserve University's School of Law in 1971. He has served as an assistant attorney general for the state of Ohio; a trial attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C., and San show more Francisco; and was the SEC's liaison to the Watergate special prosecutor. He retired from the practice of law in 1993 to become a full-time writer. He studied creative writing with Jesse Hill Ford at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His first novel, The Lasko Tangent, won an Edgar Allen Poe Award in 1979. His other works include Private Screening, Eyes of a Child, Silent Witness, No Safe Place, Exile, Eclipse, The Devil's Light, and Fall from Grace. He has received several awards of his work including the French Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere in 1995 for Degree of Guilt and a Maggie Award from Planned Parenthood for Protect and Defend. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original title
- Dark Lady
- Original publication date
- 1999
- People/Characters
- Stella Marz; Arthur Bright; Jack Novak; Tommy Fielding; Nathaniel Dance; Natasha Tillman (show all 8); Vincent Moro; Johnny Curran
- Dedication
- For George Bush and Ron Kaufman
- First words
- In the moments before the brutal murder of Jack Novak ended what she later thought of as her time of innocence, Assistant County Prosecutor Stella Marz gazed down at the waterfront of her native city, Steelton.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"It means everything," she answered.
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- Reviews
- 8
- Rating
- (3.31)
- Languages
- 7 — Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 34
- ASINs
- 9
