An old case has come back to haunt Det. Francis Loughlin.
Twenty years ago, he got a confession from a 17-year-old
boy, Julian Vega. Now Loughlin is facing another nasty
murder of a doctor and since Vega's out of jail, he's
immediately a suspect.
But the case goes strange, with blood lifted from under the
latest victim's fingernails matching the victim in the very
first murder case. Is it possible for a case to get any
more screwed up?
Loughlin finds himself questioning his entire career --
knowing that solving that case 20 years before set up him
for a lifetime of success. Did he push an innocent young
boy into confessing? Loughlin tracks down old witnesses,
trying to find the truth in this convoluted case.
Blauner brings us a suspenseful novel with a lot of depth.
The looks into Vega's thoughts are disturbing -- the insight
of what prison did to the innocent 17-year-old boy that he
was is sad and troublesome. All the behind-the-scene
politics, as in all the cop books you read, bring their own
disquiet to the novel. I certainly recommend SLIPPING INTO
DARKNESS for those who enjoy dark, moody dramas.
It has been two decades since Detective Francis X. Loughlin
solved his first big case, the brutal murder of a woman
doctor. The young man convicted of the killing, Julian
Vega, is back on the streets now, released on a
technicality after years of appeals.Not long after his
release, another murder takes place, one so similar to that
long-ago case that Julian is the first suspect in Detective
Loughlin+s sights.
However, the DNA evidence that is now a routine part of
policework points in an impossible direction. If the
evidence is correct, Loughlin has to rethink decades of
certainty-and Julian may be the only person alive who can
help him make it through this case.
With his laser-sharp vision for motives and secrets of
human nature, Peter Blauner has crafted a crime story of
the highest order, in which the ending is an unguessable
shock and the characters are unforgettably real. Blauner is
at the top of his form in this chilling tour de force, a
novel that will keep readers guessing until the very last
page.