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The Night Monster

The Night Monster, September 2009
Jack Carpenter #3
by James Swain

Ballantine Books
336 pages
ISBN: 0345515463
EAN: 9780345515469
Hardcover
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"Lots of unexpected twists keep PI Jack Carpenter on his toes."

Fresh Fiction Review

The Night Monster
James Swain

Reviewed by Vicky Gilpin
Posted August 11, 2009

Thriller Police Procedural

When his daughter asks him to be vigilant in looking for a creepy stalker at her women's basketball game, private investigator Jack Carpenter thinks his duties will probably amount to no more than some light intimidation. When, however, he sees his daughter's teammate kidnapped in front of him by monsters from his past, Jack knows he has a larger responsibility.

Attempting to work with the police, usually semi-helpful even though Jack was thrown off the force, provides more roadblocks than usual, as the police are being pressured to make this an open-and-shut case. Jack knows time is running out as he tries to track down what he thinks might be a serial kidnapper duo with a disturbing past and a specific victim profile, one that puts his own daughter at risk.

Perfect as a stand-alone story, THE NIGHT MONSTER continues to develop Jack Carpenter's character. This book is interesting, with plenty of unexpected twists to keep a reader guessing.

Learn more about The Night Monster

SUMMARY

The shadowy side of the Sunshine State, where blood runs cold even in the tropical heat, is the tantalizing, terrifying territory few know better than James Swain. His razor-sharp tales of criminals, cops, and South Florida— style suspense bite like a hungry gator and never let go.

The past has come back to haunt P.I. Jack Carpenter, former head of the Broward County Missing Persons Unit. As a young cop he failed to stop the kidnapping of a college coed by a shockingly large assailant–and neither of them was ever seen again. The abduction has remained Carpenter’s most chilling cold case, and even now the mystery of the missing girl lurks in his darkest dreams. But after eighteen years, it’s about to become terrifying reality once more.

When his daughter, Jessie, asks him to bird-dog a camera-toting creep who’s been shadowing her college basketball team, Carpenter’s hot pursuit of the video voyeur leads him smack into another run-in with his old hulking nemesis, who abducts one of Jessie’s teammates. While the Broward County cops are determined to pin the rap on a convenient suspect, Carpenter isn’t about to let grim history repeat itself–especially when he discovers a pattern of unsolved kidnappings involving the same massive perp.

With the eager assistance of the kidnap victim’s high-powered tycoon father, the uneasy cooperation of his old unit’s new commander, and precious little time before the trail goes cold, Jack and his trusty dog, Buster, hit the ground running. And they’ll need all the help they can get– including backup from an FBI man with a personal stake in the hunt–as they follow a twisted trail from the ruins of a shuttered mental asylum with an infamous past to the streets of a sinister small town with a ghastly secret.

With smooth-talking, uncompromising hero Jack Carpenter as guide, The Night Monster is an exhilarating journey into the heart of the American underworld. Bestselling author James Swain’s fiendish plotting and energetic pacing will keep you electrified straight through till morning.


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